Our Art Restoration: Marble, bronze and spelter sculptures and busts, and a wide variety of unique art objects
For more than two decades, Newmans Ltd. has served owners and caretakers of renowned public and private historic properties and private fine art collectors in New England and nationally. By offering a custom restoration approach to every art object, we are specifically able to solve challenging problems with respect to its material, structure, present condition and original intent. We are particularly known for the wide spectrum of materials that we service including the restoration of marble sculptures and busts, bronze, lead, zinc, pewter and spelter sculpture and statues, silver hollowware and French ormolu, etc. 
Our projects range in size as well: from metalsmithing to antique mechanisms, to on-site restorations such as The Richard Lippold sculpture Trinity at the Portsmouth Abbey Church of St. Gregory the Great. To view our full range of projects, see Restoration Categories & Institutions. Newmans, LTD is a professional associate of the American Institute for Conservation, the leading association of conservators who preserve cultural heritage.
In addition to our restoration of marble sculptures and busts, our projects involve detailed, skilled craftsmanship. On your left involves silversmithing. The middle links to our civic projects, many of which are fountains. And on the right links to finely crafted bronze figurines
Below, left, is our restoration of a finely crafted set of Sheffield candelabra. The middle image links to our extensive work at Touro synagogue. The link on your right sends you to work that we’ve done with ferrous metals, the one pictured being a trident we made for Yale University.
The links below send you to, on your left, the many unusual decorative mechanisms on which we have worked. The middle link send you to the objects made from cultures outside of the west
In the row below; on your left shows A letter N cast by the Gorham foundry of Providence Rhode Island, part of the Rosenberger medal which we restored for Brown University. The Center Image of the restoration of a ritual sword made of whale tooth. And on your right, shows and honor cigarette box – The link sending you to our many unusual historic restorations of mechanisms.
The link from the image below sends you too a particular favorite of our work —the restoration of unusual – mostly late 19 century – spelter pewter lead zinc sculptures and statues. Remember after you’re done with this link, to go back to our Restoration of Marble Sculptures and Busts.
Our process
We develop our plan for the restoration of your marble sculptures and busts, bronze sculpture, zinc, pewter, spelter and lead sculpture and statues and other unusual art objects with attention to how your artwork was made, why it has failed, the work’s historical context, the maker’s original intent, the piece’s present condition. We then compare the pros and cons of our treatment options. Consequently, our work may include fixing, repairing, and cleaning. With this in mind, we then make a proposal with a fixed price for the work we’ve agreed upon with the option of photographic and text documentation.
To see more about our major institutional work, follow these links:
Yale University Touro Synagogue The Pequot Library Brown University City of Newport, Rhode Island
Every project is different. Contact us today for a free consultation of your fine art restoration needs.
About us
In 1989 Newmans, Ltd. began by restoring silver and bronze sculptures, plaques, fountains, candelabra and historical lighting. Consequently, we were contacted by collectors with objects made of a wide variety of materials to work with them on the restoration of marble sculptures and busts. We then expanded to solving problems with Non-Western ethnographic objects made of wood, bone, ivory, gold, brass, steel, and iron.
Prior to the creation of Newmans, ltd., Howard, with much help from his wife Mary, created over 200 bronzes of his own sculpture. Howard learned the craft of bronze sculpture by being trained as a silversmith at the Rhode Island school design in Providence, Rhode Island.
During the 1990’s, Brown University contacted us to restore The Rosenberger Medal, a bronze plaque made by The Gorham Company in the 1920’s. Brown then asked us to clean and repair their fifteen marble sculptures and busts of founder John Brown, his family, and other significant founders in the John Hay Library.
Spanning three decades, our projects range from small, delicate bronze statuary and unusual metal objects to large installations in museums, churches, synagogues and libraries.
Photography and texts
The images and texts on this site are the work of Howard Newman. If you are interested in photographing and writing about your collection, please contact us through this site.