Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 57
Make your art stand out for
all the right reasons
by Iain McIntosh
There are now many types and styles of lighting to bring
your paintings to life, but the principles behind them should
always be the same. When lighting art, ensure the following
points have been included. The key factors required to light
art will remain the same for whichever of the lighting styles
are used. In a nutshell, they are as follows:
Light coverage
To cover either the full canvas or full canvas and frame, as
required (your personal choice).
Light level control
Individually controlled for each painting using a localised
dimmer on each picture light.
Colour temperature
Use a warm white colour, 2700K is the optimum for most
paintings.
Glare removal
Correct selection of arm size and head angle will make all
the difference.
Colour rendering
This needs to be >95 to bring out the rich colours and
textures in your art, and currently the highest level of CRI
for LEDs is 98. Some LEDs are only 80 CRI.
Is in keeping with the room decor
Being discreet with respect to size, colour, style & finish.
LED number and lensing
This will be dependent on the content of the painting, its
dimensions and the position of the light source.
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