9 tips to make your paintings last for generations

If handled carefully and protected from sunlight and moisture, paintings will provide generations of viewing pleasure. Here are nine ways to keep your paintings in great shape.

• Always use weight-appropriate hooks when hanging paintings. Use two hooks per painting to help it hang straight.
• When hanging a particularly heavy painting, put an L-bracket or two under the lower edge to help support the weight and relieve some of the burden on the hooks.

• When purchasing a painting, check to see if it has been varnished.
• If not, ask the artist or the gallery to varnish it for you. (Most will do so free of charge.)
• A coat of varnish will not only enhance the image, it will also protect the surface and reduce the likelihood of cracking.

• Once the painting has been hung, clean it regularly with a soft-bristled brush or dry, soft cloth to prevent dust buildups that can foster mould growth or dry out the paint and cause cracking or peeling.
• Don't dust older paintings with loose, flaking paint, however; you may dislodge paint fragments.
• Seek a conservator's care for valuable paintings with loose paint.

• The heat produced by bright spotlights on an overhead track and by lights that attach directly to the picture frame can cause cracking and irreversible damage to paintings.
• Picture-frame lights should be avoided altogether, because they produce uneven, excessive heat at the bottom or top of the frame that can adversely affect a painting's natural expansion and contraction.
• If you want to use overhead spotlights, keep them about three metres (10 feet) away from the painting. You may also want to consider installing a dimmer to lessen the lights' impact on your artwork.
• Be sure to keep the room dark when it's unoccupied.

• Temperature and humidity levels in the rooms where paintings are displayed should be carefully monitored, and extreme fluctuations in either should be avoided.
• Keep room temperatures between 18° to 21°C (64° and 70°F) in the winter and 21° to 24°C (70° to 75°F) in the summer, with relative humidity levels ranging between 40 and 55 per cent.

Never touch the front or back surfaces of an oil painting; the oils and salts on your hands can cause cracks and other types of damage.

• The space over a fireplace is one of the worst places to display a painting.
• The wall temperature behind the chimney often varies wildly and can get quite hot and dry when the fireplace is in use, hastening the development of cracks and other damage in the painting.
• Moreover, soot from the fires can accumulate on your artwork, making it appear dark and dirty.

• Unframed paintings are more susceptible to surface damage and require additional care in handling.
• Before moving or hanging an unframed painting, always wash and dry your hands to avoid leaving fingerprints and smudges along the edge of the painting. (Do not wear gloves, though, because the painting could slip out of your hands.)

• When you need to store paintings, always place framed and unframed works in separate groups; combining the two is begging for snags and tears.
• Paintings should be stored vertically in a closet or central area of the home (never in the basement or attic).
• Place unframed paintings face-to-face and back-to-back. It's also a good idea to loosely cover the paintings with a sheet or other lint-free cloth.
• Never wrap them tightly in plastic, because this can trap in moisture, resulting in warping or mould growth.