About the Founder and Chief Art Conservator, Barbara Stella
Barbara Stella is an established name in the art conservation world for her meticulous, intelligent and informed approach to art restoration.
Barbara received her advanced degree in fine art conservation with a specialty in paintings from the Institute of Fine Arts and Restoration, Palazzo Spinelli in Florence, Italy. Before attending this prestigious school she received her Certificate of Professional Qualification in Restoration in the Tuscany Region, Italy. She fell in love with restoration during her study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Ravenna, Italy after obtaining the Diploma of Art by the Liceo Artistico, Ravenna, Italy.
Prior to moving to Florida, she worked for 20 years in Italy performing conservation treatment for the minister of cultural heritage, as well as public and private institutions that included museums, churches and private collections. Her clientele included Civic Museum of Ancient Art, General Director of Fine-Arts, Italian Institute of Culture, Archbishop’s Curia, public institutions, city councils, as well as for many private collectors and art and antique art dealers.
Barbara taught classes at the graduate level in art for the Ministry of Education. She also taught for the Association Classe Europenne du Patrimoine C.E.P.I.A. (Centre d’ études Sur le Patrimoine l’Italianité et les Arts) and for an exchange between the Italian region of Emilia Romagna and the French region Les Pays de la Loire, Assessorato of Culture in cooperation with the Civic Art Gallery of Ferrara, Assessorato alla Cultura of Ferrara in collaboration with the General Director of Artistic and Historical Patrimonies of Bologna and the Inspector of Environmental and Architectural Patrimonies of Ravenna.
Chief Art Conservator in Florida
Since moving to West Palm Beach in 2010 she works with art lovers, national and international galleries, private and corporate collectors, art advisors, fine art storage facilities, art dealers and auction houses, museums, insurance companies, art appraisers, interior design firms. Barbara has restored a large number of works by well-known painters and sculptors.
In the span of her 30-year career, she has performed treatments on paintings by prestigious artists such as Rembrandt (1606-1669), Claude Monet (1840- 1926), Paolo Cagliari, called “il Veronese” (1528-1588), Joan Miro’ (1893-1983), Salvador Dali’ (1904-1989), Kenneth Noland (1924-2010), Rene’ Magritte (1898-1967), and many others.
Barbara Stella is an AIC Professional Associate (American Institute for Conservation). She uses methodologies approved by the AIC and the (European) Institution of Preservation of Artistic and Historical Works, whose guidelines and ethics she stringently follows.
Many of her restoration works were published in highly respected European art and restoration publications (see Press Articles and Publications), as well as presented in TV programs in Ferrara Italy and in Belgium (TV De Wereld BVBA, trasmission Go2). Barbara’s passion for art conservation is reflected by her continuous development and training in her industry. She continuously stays up-to-date with new and innovative techniques that enable her to treat and preserve even the most challenging artworks.
Barbara is fully qualified to use Modular Cleaning with aqueous solutions and is one of the few Art Conservators in the US trained to use Nanotechnology in art conservation, for the treatment of very sensitive artworks.
While her success in art conservation makes her stand out among peers, so too does her commitment to preserving what the masters had in mind when they created their masterpieces.
