Sir Ernst Gombrich remarks in the foreword that the climate of opinion has on the whole changed toward greater caution in the cleaning of pictures. The author underlines the point that our way of seeing a work of art is conditioned by contemporary cultural factors (museum lighting or photographic reproductions). She discusses philosophical and practical aspects of the restoration of paintings with much lamentation about what she perceives to be the predominating scientific and unsympathetic attitudes and methods used in the United States and Great Britain in the 20th century. Aesthetic and cultural comparisons are made with music and literature and theatre. A number of chapters are devoted to the history of painting technique in Western art. (Abstractor's note: Reviews of this book were published in the Burlington Magazine, May 1985, p. 306, and in the Manchester Guardian Weekly, June 2, 1985, p. 21. Both reviewers note art historical inaccuracies in the text, but also indicate the need for published discussions on this subject).