By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
Ever wonder how those huge frescos, delicate figurines, glossy bowls and other antiquities have retained their near- or mint appearance? Well, sometimes the remarkable condition of a societyÕs treasures is directly attributable to the hands of careful crafting performed at studios such as the Rosine Green Fine Arts Restorers and Conservators at 89 School St. in Brookline.
Green, an art restorer from France who had worked at the Louvre, opened the Brookline location in 1970. Ehiel Rits, who joined in 1979 and currently operates the business with a staff of four, took over, retaining the familiar name, when Green departed in 1999.
Using various scientific applications as well as hands-on craftsmanship practiced by artisans worldwide, including Renaissance smithy techniques, Rits and his staff draw from many sources. Working with myriad materials including enamel, cloisonne, papier-mache, tortoise shell, jade and ivory, mother-of-pearl, alabaster and marble, semi-precious stones, various metals, oriental lacquers and more, they restore paintings, boxes, caddies, furniture, artistic screens, porcelain pottery, figurines, fine china, earthenware and oriental ceramics are other materials utilized at the shop, which also restores Venetian glass, crystal chandeliers and furniture inlay, and also create custom designed pedestals and display cases to protect them.
Painstakingly restored works have included a Japanese lacquer scholarÕs cabinet given to President Buchanan in 1860 by the first Japanese delegation to the US which now resides in a guest sitting room at the White Housek a Chinese bowl presented to Boston Tremont House Hotel head Dwight Boyden in 1832 which is now on display at BostonÕs Old State House (where Queen Elizabeth II admired it on her bicentennial visit to Boston), an ancient helmet, and a 1861 oil painting of Mass. Lieutenant Governor John Nesmith. All were brought back to their original condition.
RitsÕ and the staffÕs restored pieces are on display at Adams National Historic Site, the Essex Institute, Harrison Otis Gray House, Harvard University, Museum of the American China Trade, Phillips House at Massachusetts General Hospital, Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, U.S. Department of State, Yale University, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, House of Seven Gables, Paul Revere House among other sites.
A member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and the New England Conservation Association, Rits studied art conservation and restored Old Master paintings, icons, and fine art objects at the Academy of Fine Arts in Riga, Latvia. He has a son and daughter with his wife Miriam, and has lived in Brookline since 1979, following emigration from Latvia.
ÒIn 1979, the situation for Jews in Latvia had become even worse than before,Ó he recalled. There were never pogroms in Latvia, he explained, but noted that the government was all too willing to join up with Nazi and other Jewish oppressors. ÒWe all left for freedom,Ó he said.
For a consultation, or information on Rosine Green Fine Arts Restorers and Conservators, please call 617-277-8368 or fax 617-731-3845.