Gallery Notes Volume 44 Number 8 Page 1

              GALLERY NOTES      
March 1979   vol 44, No. 8
"Is it bad, Doc?"—The Gallery's 13th century limestone
madonna was being treated the other day by visiting
conservator Arthur Beale just as our roving photographer
happened by. Fortunately the problem proved to be
nothing more serious than the dimming effects of old age,
which Beale was able to mitigate with a good cleaning—
painstakingly swabbing a minute area at a time.
Acquisitions
Inside this issue of Gallery Notes, you will find
illustrated representative pieces from two important
collections that have recently come to the Gallery.
A group of American drawings and Pre-Columbian
sculptures from the collection of the late Harris K.
Prior, director of the Gallery from 1962 until his death
in 1975, is the gift of Canon and Mrs. Nathaniel   T.
Whitcomb. Mrs. Whitcomb is the former Anne Prior.
In addition to several Pre-Columbian sculptures, the
collection also includes drawings by William
Beale is head of conservation at the Harvard Fogg
Museum Center for Conservation and Technical Studies.
His recent visit, during which he treated a number of our
three-dimensional objects, is part of a stepped-up program
of conservation which we began a year or so ago with the
assistance of a grant from the National Endowment for the
Arts.
Glackens, Chaim Gross, Conrad Marca-Relli,
Seymour Lipton, Theodore Roszak and William
Zorach.
Also added is a distinguished collection of 18th
and early 19th century furniture, glass and
porcelain, the gift of the estate of the late Thomas
G. Spencer. In addition to the marquetry
secretary from Holland illustrated, the collection
also includes chairs, a writing desk, clocks, and
tables, and, among the glass and porcelain, an
English Worcester tea set, ca. 1775.
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester