Silvermove

Introduction

The silver move category covers most of the mid-range installations and moves that we undertake. This category probably accounts for around 20 to 25% of all moves that occur and requires the use of a minimum of three art handlers plus the designated equipment (as described here). For these moves, we set a limit of 150kgs in weight for the object being moved. Most of the works that fall into this category also tend to be large in area with a major dimension usually exceeding 2 metres. A lower weight limit is not set as the category considers the physical dimensions of the paintings involved as well as their weight. Often, we find canvas paintings can be light enough to fall within the yellow category but of such dimensions as to create significant problems when manually handling them.

Works within this category are usually transported singularly on stacker trolleys (see equipment). There are a variety of hanging methods employed when installing these works though the most common are supporting brackets and plates or a suspension system (within the National gallery chains are employed). Usually, given the size of the works, standard security is employed when on display.

Silver Equipment

The two primary pieces of equipment used in this category of move is a standard, 2000kg manually operated hydraulic stacker (maximum platform height of 4.5ms) and the National Gallery stacker trolley, designed by the department for this purpose. The aim of the stacker trolley is to transport the painting to the installation site and then be attached to the manual stacker so providing the lifting power to install or de-install the work. This operation removes most of the manual handling of the work itself, so providing a good health and safety option for the department as well as improving basic preventative conservation needs when transporting larger paintings within the gallery.

This type of equipment, from the original prototype, has been extensively remodelled and improved over a number of years through the creation of 7 different models or Marques. This includes designs which relate to specific roles necessary in the gallery or specific objects in the collection. For example, the Leonardo Cartoon is displayed using a specially reinforced, glazed steel box. This weighs about 190kgs so nominally would take it outside the silver category. However as this is the most efficient method we have of installing the work then a specific stacker trolley was created for this role.

When using this method of transportation and installation, it is often necessary for team members to work at height. Therefore, the third piece of equipment associated with the category is a MEWP, working at height runabout. The type we use is the Genie GR 12. This piece of equipment needs to be versatile and sensitive enough to work around the stacker trolley set-up and we have found it has almost completely eliminated the use of step ladders within the procedure, an original goal of the process design.

The original concept for the equipment came from one of our senior technicians and the following statement by him describes how a prototype design was first agreed:

Silver Trolley

We have been using our stacker trolleys for 16 years now and they have proved a unique and practical way of undertaking the installation of large paintings within The National Gallery's collection. They have also become indispensable to the installation of smaller paintings at height in galleries where the pictures are double hung.

The story about how they came into being, highlights how the art handling department has been able to gain inspiration to create new methods of working, through visits to other Institutions around the world. For example, while helping on the de-installation of the Dennis Mahon exhibition up in Edinburgh in 1997 I noticed that the technicians there were using table tennis tables which could be folded up and moved around on wheels for packing and unpacking works of art. Our portable packing tables at the time were by comparison heavy, cumbersome and time consuming to move. As a result, we sourced our own table tennis tables and have been using them ever since as have a growing number of other galleries around the world.

This brings us back to the stacker trolley. On a courier trip to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich in November 1999 with a large full length portrait by Van Dyck, I witnessed the conservators (who also doubled as the art handling team there) place the painting face in on a large wooden A frame trolley, which was taken up to the galleries after the conservation check had been completed. Once the position for the installation had been established two of the team went up ladders on either side and a third member proceeded to pick up the whole A frame with a genie superlift stacker. The trolley was steadied by the two staff members up the ladders as it rose to the height at which the picture was to be hung. Once at height the two technicians hooked up the picture to the wire hanging system which was used throughout the gallery, unstrapped the painting and slowly lowered the A Frame while the technicians supported the picture allowing it back to the wall gently as the A frame descended. I was struck by how little additional handling was needed and how easily the installation had proceeded.

Consequently, on returning to The National Gallery I suggested we might try and develop a trolley which would be designed solely for this purpose. We had just had our own in house designed regular picture trolleys fabricated for us by a firm up in Tamworth near Birmingham and were confident they would be able to make these new trolleys for us.

It took roughly two and a half years before we were in a place where finances and time came together to allow us to start designing the first National Gallery stacker trolleys. The initial idea had come from my courier trip to Munich, but it was Patrick O’Sullivan who was to undertake drawing up the design along with solving the nuts and bolts issues creating a new trolley like this required. We discussed the features a bespoke trolley of this sort should have, and Patrick incorporated these into his design.

Like our new picture trolleys, the stacker trolleys were to be adjustable giving them as much flexibility over the sizes of pictures they could accommodate as possible. They were designed with a top bar which could extend both vertically (like our regular picture trolleys) but in addition horizontally on both sides. Patrick also designed two raised, padded feet which were attached and could slide along an aluminium bar which ran the length of the base of the trolley and gave adjustment to accommodate the decorative mouldings and carvings on the large variety of picture frames they would be employed to support.

He also designed the wheelbase to slide back when the trolley was lifted off the ground, either to install or de-install a painting. This meant that the padded feet could be brought right up to the wall making it possible to lift the picture straight off or onto the wall brackets from the trolley in most situations. They could then be slid back into position before being lowered to the ground giving the trolleys maximum stability for moving around the gallery when loaded, with large pictures.

Also, unlike the A frame in Munich which was just lifted from underneath by the stacker. These trolleys had a compartment designed into the framework underneath which snugly housed the tines of the stacker. There was also a bar which allowed the stacker and the trolley to be coupled together giving us the insurance the trolley could not slip of the tines with a painting in situ.

In 2004 the first prototype stacker trolley arrived at the gallery and proved itself invaluable in the day to day work of the art handling department. We discovered that not only was the trolley making the installation of large paintings easier for art handlers, but it also gave the curators a secure way of viewing a painting against the wall before settling on the height at which they intended to hang it.

The process before this involved padding out the tines of a stacker. Lifting the picture off a trolley manually and balancing it on those tines while it was precariously lifted into position. If especially large, one or two technicians were needed up on ladders to keep the balance at the top of the painting.

Now, a picture could be brought into position and lifted to the desired height without the added complication of ladders and technicians obscuring the view of the painting on the wall. It also often resulted in less handling for the pictures as they can be stored temporarily on the trolley until they were needed again.

Six months after the arrival of the first prototype we added another two improved versions of the first prototype to our growing collection of in house designed equipment. We eventually donated the original prototype to The National Museum Cardiff and have replaced the two trolleys which arrived after it with new improved versions, all of which were designed by Patrick.

We now have eight stacker trolleys, including two smaller units for installing smaller paintings at height. (One of which has been designed to double up specifically for the installation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Cartoon NG6337. ‘The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist.”)

Wheel units no longer slide but swivel and several of the units have top bars which only lift vertically. Between them they cover most of the paintings within the collection that are better suited to being stackered into position rather than lifted manually. They are also regularly used as temporary storage units helping us to keep down the manual handling of large paintings to a bare minimum.

All in all, our stacker trolleys have proved an indispensable tool in the safe handling of large paintings. They continue to aid us in the installation, movement and storage of our larger paintings with an ease and simplicity we could hardly have imagined when the department started back in 1992.

Danny Metcalf , Senior Art Handler