Newsletter Archive: Spring 2005
Caroline VillersCaroline Villers died on Christmas Eve 2004,
after a short illness. Her vibrant energy, focus and clarity of vision
were evident to the last, and her death is a sad and untimely loss
to the Institute and to everyone who knew her.
After reading Modern History at Oxford, Caroline completed an MA
in the History of Art at the Courtauld in 1972. After a year as Assistant
Curator of Prints and Drawings at the London Museum, she returned
to the Courtauld, obtaining the Institute’s Diploma in the Conservation of Paintings
in 1976. She was appointed, first, as Technical Assistant to the Head of
the Technology Department, Professor Stephen Rees Jones, then in 1980 as
Lecturer, and in 1998 Senior Lecturer before becoming Director of the Department
in 1999. Her partnership, during the 1980’s, with Robert Bruce-Gardner
and Gerry Hedley in teaching conservation was truly inspirational,
innovative and synergistic, and laid the foundations that resulted
in generations of students enjoying first class inter-disciplinary
training, in preparation for a professional career in museums and
galleries worldwide.
Although Caroline was primarily dedicated to the development of teaching
within the Department, she was keenly aware of the Institute’s rich
and unique combination of resources, the Gallery’s Collection,
the various dedicated libraries and the unrivalled excellence of
art historical expertise, all under the one roof. She was passionately
committed to the care of the Gallery Collections, and cherished the
opportunity and privilege of working together with gallery directors,
curators and art historians, to identify, facilitate and realise
mutual goals. She contributed to the teaching of undergraduate and
MA students, supervised PhD theses on a broad range of subjects,
and initiated and organised a number of special exhibitions and conferences.
Even in her last month, Caroline was formulating and offering her
ideas about liaison and furthering collaboration within the Institute.
Caroline was also active in many aspects of the organisation and
development of the Institute. Her integrity, pragmatism and clarity
of thought earned her the respect and trust of her colleagues, whom
she represented on many a committee, including the Governing Board
of the Courtauld. Within the conservation profession, she was a Fellow
and Council Member of the International Institute for the Conservation
of Historic and Artistic Works of Art, a Trustee and Board member
of the Textile Conservation Centre, and was Vice-Chairman of the
International Council of Museums Conservation Committee (ICOM-CC).
Caroline’s scholarly activities included, in addition to her
own list of significant publications, her scrupulous editorship of
The International Institute for Conservation journal Studies in Conservation
and of The Conservator, that of the United Kingdom Institute for
Conservation. Most recently, she organised, together with colleagues
at the National Gallery and at the Institute, a highly successful
international conference 'European Trade in Painters’ Materials to 1700’.
Publication of the post-prints will, appropriately, be dedicated
to her.
The Courtauld is to establish, in her memory, a Research Fellowship
the aims of which are to promote, enable and support research in
the evolving interdisciplinary field of Technical Art History. Caroline,
one of the pioneers and leading exponents of this specialised and
wide-ranging branch of art history, was herself delighted with this
proposal, made to her by a close friend early on in her illness,
perceiving it to be a realistic means of taking the profession forwards.
Caroline was a demanding yet patient and dedicated teacher who will
be remembered by her students as an inspirational and supportive
figure, a rigorous intellect with an infectious laugh who expressed
a genuine and generous interest in their lives and their achievements.
She was surprised and quite overwhelmed by the hundreds of cards
and messages of goodwill that arrived on her doorstep, after news
of her illness spread abroad. But she will be remembered most fondly
as the person that she was, a true lover of life, and for that smile.
Robert Bruce-Gardner
and Aviva Burnstock
Caroline is survived by her husband, Robert McNab and their three
children, Maro, Alexander and Sophia