Conservation
The specialized care that keeps artworks stable and legible over time (from routine cleaning to structural repair), guided by professional standards and the artist's intent.
It helps to separate maintenance from conservation. Maintenance is routine and preventive (washing, waxing bronze, clearing drainage) and can be done by trained staff. Conservation is intervention: repairing damage, stabilizing materials, repainting to specification. It belongs with professional conservators, and where possible with the artist consulted, since a repair that changes how a work looks can raise moral-rights questions.
The budgeting rule seasoned programs follow: care is not an afterthought to the commission budget but part of it. A percentage set aside at commissioning for lifetime maintenance costs far less than the restoration that neglect eventually demands.