Deterioration

If the Cathedral of Chartres, delicate, lacelike, had been built in Hartford, Conn., it would probably by this time be a chipped and crumbling mass. Reason: U. S. climate is inimical to fine sculptural stonework. Last week Sculptor George Grey Barnard had much to say about the decay of the medieval sculptures in the famed Cloisters established by himself in upper Manhattan and later purchased by John Davison Rockefeller Jr. for Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum. Most of this outdoor statuary has disintegrated more in its 20 years in the U. S. than in the preceding six centuries in Europe. Even the indoor pieces have been somewhat affected.

Prof. Colin Garfield Fink (Columbia University, Electrochemistry) announced last week that he would treat the declining stones--cleansing them to remove bacteria, giving an alkaline bath to immunize them from free salts and acids in the air, filling pores and chinks with melted paraffin and beeswax. This operation will hereafter be needed every few years.

Cleopatra's Needle, famed Egyptian obelisk in Manhattan's Central Park, suffers considerably from the frost. The late Art Dealer George Jean Demotte, who presented many ancient sculptures to U. S. museums, always advised that they be kept indoors although in their original state they may have adorned European exteriors.

Photographers last week prepared to take huge, detailed pictures of Michelangelo's magnificent paintings in Rome's Sistine Chapel. Reason: the Michelangelos must be treated for chemical decay in the paint, damp air and dust effects, carbon deposits from the smoke of holy candles. The photographs will be used to check the restorative process.

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