Department of Movable Heritage

Historical recipes describe several refining methods to improve the quality of lead white, usually by grinding or washing with water and/or vinegar. Processing methods also include decanting (particle size separation based on gravita- tional sedimentation speed). This paper reports on reconstructions of such processing methods using historically accurate materials and techniques. Particle size separation through gravitational sedimentation is easy to accomplish. The size frac- tion thus produced bears a close resemblance to the very fine grade of lead white present in Vermeer's The Art of Painting (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Lead white is generally considered to be a basic lead carbonate, but it usually consists of basic and neutral lead carbonate, with small amounts of other lead salts. X-ray diffraction of the pigments produced with historically accurate techniques shows that all of the reconstructed processing methods influence the ratio of neutral to basic lead carbo...

Ancient Egyptian faience was glazed using three techniques that play an important role in its structural fragility. To improve mechanical stability, consolidation treatment using a resin may be required. Because each glazing method influences an object’s microstructure, the effectiveness of consolidation treatment is expected to differ among objects produced using the different glazing techniques. Polished samples from replicas were compared with those from ancient objects using scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Research was undertaken into the penetration depth and distribution of PARALOID B-72 applied to representative faience replicas. After consolidation, the distribution of the PARALOID B-72 in the replicas was assessed using three-dimensional images created using neutron tomography. Penetration depth was considerably greater in applicationand cementation-glazed replicas than in efflorescence-glazed replicas. Differences in consolidant penetrati...

Citation for published version (APA): van Lookeren Campagne, K., Megens, L., & van Bommel, M. (2018). Understanding 17th-18th century Dutch Tin-glaze Through the Interpretation and Reconstruction of Historical Recipes. In S. Pereira, M. Menezes, & J. Delgado Rodrigues (Eds.), GlazeArt2018 : proceedings : International Conference Glazed Ceramics in Cultural Heritage, Lisboa, 2018 (pp. 150-164). Lisboa: Laboratório Nacional Engenharia Civil.

While the potential of man-made fibres was realisd when the first completely synthetic polymers were developed in the early part of the 20th century, many of these materials were not widely used until the 1960s and 1970s. From the early 1960s, polypropylene (pp) became increasingly common, due to the new polymerisation catalysts developed by Ziegler and Natta in 1954. pp possesses excellent properties that make it well suited to use as a fibre; however, it is also prone to oxidative degradation, accelerated by light, particularly in the ultraviolet (uv) region of the spectrum. A book published in 1962, entitled Welche Chemiefaser Ist Das? (‘Which Synthetic Fibre is it?’), contains 126 samples of reference fibres, including polyester, polyamide, polyethylene, polypropylene and polyurethanes (Driesch 1962). At the time of writing this paper, all fibres in the book have been aged naturally for 43 years; some of them are discoloured and others have degraded entirely. The aim of this stu...

In earlier articles, we determined the spatial distributions and concentrations of all pigments used by Van Gogh in his painting Field with Irises near Arles. The colors of some pigments are expected to have changed over time, especially those of chrome yellow, cochineal, and eosin lake. For all pigments in this painting, we made physical paint reconstructions by following historical sources on raw materials and production processes, and we determined their optical properties. We combined this with pigment concentration maps to reconstruct the original colors of the painting digitally. When substituting the reconstruction paints into the calculations, we found that technical-scientific data was not sufficient to resolve several issues. In those cases, discussions within the broad interdisciplinary team allowed us to make informed decisions. These issues refer to the representation of the sky area, and the original contributions of the red lake pigments to local colors. The digitally...

This chapter considers the conservation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, now at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, from past to future. It starts with the two main episodes of treatment performed in 1927 and 1961 by the Dutch restorer, Jan Cornelis Traas. Archival research provides an outline of Traas’s training, career, methods and approach viewed in the context of his day. Technical and scientific investigation of the Sunflowers helps understand what these former treatments by Traas (which are barely documented) entailed. Based on these insights, the condition of the painting is appraised and a conservation strategy defined. The past interventions severely limit options for renewed treatment. On balance the tendency is firmly towards preventive conservation, with only minor restoration performed.

Aan de Zuidweg, even ten zuiden van de dorpskern van Naaldwijk, is een groot aantal sporen en vondsten uit de Romeinse tijd en de Middeleeuwen te voorschijn gekomen. De onderzoekslocatie ligt op een steenworp afstand van de opgravingen van Jan Hendrik Holwerda, die in de jaren 30 van de vorige eeuw al uitgebreid onderzoek deed naar de restanten van wat hij dacht een inheems-Romeinse nederzetting. Holwerda’s vermoedens klopten gedeeltelijk, want na een inheems-Romeinse fase ontstond tegen het einde van de 2de eeuw een nederzetting die zich nauwelijks laat vergelijken met andere Romeinse vindplaatsen uit de regio. Hoewel de aanwijzingen zich opstapelen dat zich ergens in de directe omgeving een steunpunt van de Romeinse vloot (de Classis Germanica Pia Fidelis) moet hebben bevonden, is de verwachting van Romeinse militaire aanwezigheid in de nederzetting maar ten dele uitgekomen. Het relatief kleine onderzochte oppervlak is slechts een kijkgat gebleken in een complexe nederzetting, waa...

Paper (written and presented in Italian) on the archaeometric evidence for a Ligurian provenance of a large group of imported compendiario faience from Dutch soil, produced in and traded from Albissola in the first half of the 17th century. Paper presented on the "ATTI LI Convegno Internazionale della Ceramica 2018" in the Complesso Monumentale del Priàmar in Savona.

Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers are seen by many as icons of Western European art. Two of these masterpieces — the first version painted in August 1888 (The National Gallery, London) and the painting made after it in January 1889 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) — have been the subject of a detailed comparison by an interdisciplinary team of experts. The pictures were examined in unprecedented depth using a broad array of techniques, including state-of-the-art, non-invasive imaging analytical methods, to look closely at and under the paint surface. Not only the making, but also the subsequent history of the works was reconstructed, including later campaigns of restoration. The study’s conclusions are set out in this book, along with the fascinating genesis of the paintings and the sunflower’s special significance to Van Gogh. More than 30 authors, all specialists in the field of conservation, conservation science and art history, have contributed to the research and publication presen...