Mark Leonard is the former head of the Paintings Conservation Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and attended Oberlin College in the 1970s, where he studied studio art, art history, and chemistry. Leonard went on to earn a master of arts in art history and a diploma in art conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. He worked as an assistant conservator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before joining the Getty as an associate conservator of paintings in 1983. Leonard became head of the Paintings Conservation Department in 1998 and retired in 2010. This interview includes discussion about: growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his early exposure to arts; attending Oberlin College in 1972 and studying art conservation; attending the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 1976 and studying art history and art conservation; working as a paintings conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under John Brealey; joining the Getty in 1983 as associate conservator of paintings; the history of the Paintings Conservation Department at the Getty, including colleagues, workspaces, treatment of paintings, and notable exhibitions and catalogs; becoming head of the Paintings Conservation Department in 1998, including duties, budgets and staff, and creation of the Paintings Conservation Council; involvement in Italian lawsuit against the Getty regarding provenance of acquisitions; the Getty Trust, including moving to the Getty Center in 1997, structural organization, changes in leadership, and the Memorial Grove at the Getty Villa; retirement from the Getty in 2010 and work as an artist, including a collaboration with the Yale Center for British Art; and work at the Dallas Museum of Art from 2012 to 2017.