Before treatment begins, paintings come to our lab for examination and documentation. If physical deterioration or damage has occurred on any one of the complex layers of a painting, the structural part of a conservation treatment is done here. Conservators try to intervene as little as possible but serious damage does need to be treated so that the artist's work is not lost. In this lab, conservators carefully work to mend tears, secure flaking paint, relax buckling canvas, rejoin cracks, and remove unstable materials.