Simon Fleury originally trained as a photographer, making and developing physical photographs. He came to conservation incidentally, training on the job and transitioning from technical worker to become a conservator.

Simon and I met at Victoria and Albert Museum back in 2018 when I was artist in residence there. Our conversation here is about Simon’s work on exploring the pioneering practices of curator Richard Redgrave and the photographic condition documentation of the Raphael cartoons.

Richard Redgrave worked at the South Kensington Museum (as the V&A was known then), and around 1864 he produced a series of annotated photographs of the Raphael cartoons. In producing these ‘condition reports’ he began a method still in use by conservators today.

We also talk about Simon’s work on adapting perspectives and thinking around contemporary conservation work.

• Victoria and Albert Museum blog: Mattering: Richard Redgrave and the curious practice of drawing on museum objects - written by Simon Fleury
• Victoria and Albert Museum blog: Back to te Future: Revisiting the Richard Redgraves Condition Reports
• Museum of Care
• The Raphael Cartoons · V&A

These podcasts have been kindly supported by funding from CCW Research (University of the Arts London) and the Centre for Circular Design. Thanks also to porject manager Meghan Hutchins and illustrator Debbie Powell.