Donald Forbes

DONALD FORBES Art conservator

Born: 31 August, 1952, in Glasgow. Died: 15 December, 2006, in Edinburgh, aged 54.

DONALD Forbes was senior paintings conservator at the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) for 26 years, during which time he restored some of the greatest examples of European painting currently hanging there. To those of us who were privileged to call him friend, he was a man of great charisma: warm, personable, multi-talented, generous, witty and erudite - truly a man of many parts.

Forbes attended Glasgow School of Art in the seventies - one of a hugely talented group of students including Robbie Coltrane and Grant Hicks. On graduation, he trained as an art teacher. However, not long after he started, his former head of painting, David Donaldson, recommended Forbes for the vacant post of assistant restorer at Kelvingrove Museum and so began his career in paintings' conservation.

Forbes was typically humble about his own considerable talent as a painter which he gradually sidelined later in life, but throughout the 1980s and 1990s he exhibited with several one-man and group shows. His work was also exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art.

His first major restoration at Kelvingrove was of Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross. This high-profile restoration announced his arrival to the art world, and after five years at Kelvingrove he became the first Scottish Museums Council paintings conservator. Based in the NGS conservation department, this post took Forbes across the country restoring and surveying local authority collections. His enthusiasm for the work was appreciated by colleagues around Scotland. During this time, Forbes won a scholarship to the National Gallery in London where he studied their methods and techniques under the tutelage of Martin Wyld, the chief restorer there, who became a good friend.

In 1989, under the keepership of John Dick, he became paintings conservator for the NGS, where he remained until his death. He continued to develop professionally and was invited to become visiting lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art where he taught second-year students the technical side of painting. Forbes was a passionate champion of technique and would argue that students' ideas could come later - a somewhat contentious view.

A natural teacher with vast expertise, he will be fondly remembered by many trainee conservators from across Europe, and the legacy of his teaching will live on in their work. Never one to patronise, he mentored and encouraged his students to find their own way but he also ensured they discovered the dialogue delights of his beloved black-and-white films and enjoyed his repartee with colleagues who knew the cues to launch an impressive one-man rendition of Tunes of Glory.

Forbes was elected chairman of the Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration (SSCR), and for many years he steered the society with a light and learned touch, increasing awareness of the role of modern conservation and restoration techniques in the art world. This culminated in Forbes's presiding over a high-profile International Council of Museums (ICOM) international conference in Edinburgh. He enjoyed the opportunity to reveal his alter ego at the SSCR Burns Supper where he would address the haggis with a genuine passion firmly rooted in his abiding love of Scotland and her culture. His pride in being Scottish was not expressed in nationalism but rather in promoting Scottish culture at any opportunity. Accompanying exhibitions to the United States, Europe and Japan, Forbes was committed to promoting Scotland and was a courteous ambassador.

Music was also an integral part of his life from an early age, when his parents, Helen and Donald, encouraged him to develop his obvious ability. An accomplished keyboard player and guitarist, he played in a dance band on the Edinburgh music scene for many years. He could play anything effortlessly from Beethoven to the Beatles: a lover of Scottish music, he would often slip in a Harry Lauder medley during some of the more mainstream numbers, creating something of a stir for the dancers. Forbes liked nothing more than to play for his friends and family and many a wedding was enhanced by his post- reception performances on the piano or guitar.

Above all, his friends remember and want to celebrate his extraordinary ability to find humour in any situation: it was quicksilver humour that was cultured, clever, razor-sharp and never cruel. His natural humility meant that he was most often the fall guy in any story, but Forbes's delivery could leave his friends in pain with laughter. The stories could fill a book.

In 1995, Forbes married Lorraine McKue, who has been a steadfast support to him for many years. Their daughter, Rhona, was born in 1999. He is survived by Lorraine, Rhona, his mother and a brother.

Donald Forbes's untimely death has left all of us the lesser for his passing. Simply put by John Dick, former Keeper of Conservation at NGS, "Donald was one of the most talented men I have ever known."