Isabel Horovitz
BA Hons., Dip. Cons, ACR
Isabel trained as a paintings conservator at the Courtauld Institute of Art, following a BA in the History of Art at University College London. She has worked for the Royal Academy of Arts as an exhibitions conservator for their major loans exhibitions since 1983 and for their Permanent Collection since 1987, conserving paintings from the 18th to 20th centuries, including works by Gainsborough, Raeburn and Constable.
She has worked regularly for the Government Art Collection since 1982. She also works as a freelance exhibitions conservator, condition reporting paintings for the National Gallery, and for several United States museums. She has undertaken conservation projects for Royal Collection Trust, English Heritage, Dulwich Picture Gallery and other institutions, as well as for private collectors.
Isabel specialises in the conservation of 16th and 17th century paintings on copper. Her published research includes the catalogue essay, “The Materials and Techniques of European Paintings on Copper Supports”, in Copper as Canvas: Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper, 1525-1775, (Phoenix and Oxford, 1999); and sections on the history and conservation of painting on copper, other metals, and stone in The Conservation of Easel Paintings, (Routledge, 2012). She gave the keynote presentation, Paintings on copper, a brief overview of their conception, creation and conservation at the international symposium, “Paintings on copper and other metal plates” at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in 2017. Isabel has taught in the History of Art Department at University College London and in the Conservation and Technology Department of the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she is a member of the International Academic Board of Studies for the post-graduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings.