A review in using agar gels for cleaning art surfaces

Cleaning an artwork is an extremely delicate and irreversible procedure in a conservation work. Art conservators constantly work to identify an appropriate and correct cleaning methods according to the requirements of different substrates and in order to solve different removal problems. In recent years, gels positively responded to the conservation requests becoming a valid help and, in several cases, the best alternative compared to traditional cleaning methods. This paper proposes a summary of the most recent results regarding agar gels and their applications in cleaning art surfaces; moreover, specific applications of agar gels formulated on purpose to address different conservation problems are also discussed.