‘From reading to painting’: Authors and Audiences of Dutch Recipes for Preparatory Layers for Oil Painting

Historical recipes have been used as sources of information on artists’ materials and methods since the nineteenth century, first in the field of art history, more recently also in conservation studies and the history of science. The reliability of recipes as historical sources remains an important issue. This paper examines the relationship between recipes for preparatory layers for oil painting and artistic practice by investigating the authors, their intentions and the recipes themselves. Preparatory layers or grounds are applied to prepare a support (e.g. canvas, panel, copper) for painting. Their influence on the visual characteristics of paintings and their stability with age makes preparatory systems an important topic in art technological studies. Ground recipes were written by artists, amateurs and lexicographers, for artists, amateurs and the general audience. Dutch writers had strong international connections, evidenced by translations, re-workings, references to earlier foreign sources, and by the export of their recipes. Comparison between ground recipes and actual grounds in paintings shows similarities in ground layering and colour, but also demonstrates that recipes may be repeated long after artists have abandoned the ground types described

‘Changing images: reciprocity between nineteenth-century paintings conservation and art history’. Review of: Matthew Hayes, The Renaissance Restored. Paintings Conservation and the Birth of Modern Art History in nineteenth-century Europe, Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2021, 208 pp., USD 65,00, ISBN 9781606066966 (paperback)

Matthew Hayes’ volume examines the influence of nineteenth-century scholarship on the activities of contemporary paintings restorers, and, vice-versa, investigates how the visual effects of conservation treatments impacted contemporary scholarship. This reciprocal relationship is explored in four case studies, two situated in Italy (Giottesque frescoes and paintings by Titian), on in the United Kingdom (National Gallery London) and one in Germany (the Berlin museums). Hayes focuses on the treatment of paintings from the Renaissance, a period that knew strong interest from nineteenth-century scholars. He weaves together historical archival material (personal notes, correspondence, restoration records, historical photographs, etc.) and period texts (a.o. by Jacob Burckhardt, G.B. Cavalcaselle, Joseph Crowe), into a rich and accessible account, interspersed with examples of historical restoration treatments of well-known paintings and with restorer biographies. The resulting volume provides an entertaining and very accessible entry into the topic, whether the reader comes from (art) history or has a background in conservation

UV-Vis Luminescence imaging techniques/ Técnicas de imagen de luminiscencia UV-Vis

Ever since its first introduction in the field of conservation, the role of UV-VIS luminescence/fluores-cence (UVL and UVf, respectively) imaging has been expanding.The unique and significant contribution of this technique for investigation of cultural heritage has led to the development of new methodol-ogies and applications. Each chapter in this volume can be read independently. While this means that some repetition may occur between the individual chapters, in particular regarding the explanation of terminology and methodology, such overlap provides interesting op-portunities for cross-comparison of both terminol-ogy and methodology. In addition, it highlights similarities and differences between different situations in the practical applicationFuster López, L.; Stols-Witlox, M.; Picollo, M. (2020). UV-Vis Luminescence imaging techniques/ Técnicas de imagen de luminiscencia UV-Vis. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/138517EDITORIA

Imperfect Copies. Reconstructions in Conservation Research and Practice

In paintings conservation, reconstruction plays a role as a treatment, when it serves to complete the structural image of a lost or damaged area or object, and in research, where reconstructions are employed, for instance, to investigate the impact of conservation treatments or for their innovation. The conservation field has developed several strategies to deal with questions of validity, truthfulness and relevance. By example of a number of recent conservation and conservation research projects, this chapter discusses terminology adopted for reconstruction practices within the field, strategies developed by conservators to deal with ethical and practical issues surrounding the use of reconstructions, and relates these strategies to the ethical framework that guides conservators in their daily work

Bringing the Past to Life: Material Culture Production and Archaeological Practice

Performative methods in archaeology provide a valuable heuristic tool for investigating the many behaviours and interactions of both producers and consumers of material culture. Focusing on the potter’s wheel at Bronze Age Akrotiri as a socially embedded performance of technical know-how, this chapter outlines an integrated approach to material engagement across three arenas of archaeological action – experiment, analysis, and visualisation – connected by an explicit engagement with the chaîne opératoire approach. An innovative tool-kit is presented for the investigation of this technology by the wider archaeological community. Given the large-scale regional and diachronic questions that the adoption and adaptation of ancient technologies can raise, a collective approach is proposed for the interpretation of the potter’s wheel

Making Sound Present: Re-enactment and Reconstruction in Historical Organ Building Practices

Discussions regarding reconstruction, replication, or re-enactment in music can be fruitful only if musicians are experts in understanding the quality of the material with which they make their music: sounds. Such expertise can be acquired by analyzing and adapting the ways organists and organ builders deal with organ sounds, as each organ is an individual to a far greater extent than any other musical instrument. Organ builders discern how the thousands of pipes in an organ should sound and cooperate; organists have to able to understand the frames thus set. Generally speaking, it follows that composers’ intentions are subordinate to musicians’ and listeners’ ones: music is something that sounds

Reworking Recipes and Experiments in the Classroom

This chapter addresses the potential of reworking experiments or recipes in educational settings. We reflect on educational practice in several university settings, which span the Liberal Arts and Science Program in Utrecht and a course for historians of science and technology at Johns Hopkins University to physics teacher education at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. The classroom use of RRR methods serves to teach the exploratory nature of science, and focuses the attention of students on materials and the sensory dimensions of experiments. Together, the three cases argue that the use of RRR methods in the classroom allows teachers to engage students in new ways, and offers students the opportunity to participate more meaningfully in research into the history of science

A Walk as Act / Enact / Re-enactment: Performing Psychogeography and Anthropology

This book’s keywords of re-enactment, replication and reconstruction pose a distinction between an original on the one hand and some kind of copy on the other. The practice of walking and everyday life in general suggest alternatives. Using the series of terms ‘act’, ‘enact’ and ‘re-enactment’, the chapter investigates creativity in ways that cannot be reduced to the dichotomy of original and copy. It begins with an account of some pedagogical experiments into walking and psychogeography, and then explores the act of walking in psychogeography. It moves on to the enactment of shared practice between psychogeography and anthropology, and finally the re-enactment of psychogeography as anthropology, and vice versa

Reconstructions of Oil Painting Materials and Techniques: The HART Model for Approaching Historical Accuracy

The relationship between artists’ material choices, the preparation and application of materials, and the consequences – the appearance and material properties of the art-work – are studied using Historically Accurate Reconstructions Techniques (HART). This model provides a systematic means to evoke past practices. Reconstructions focus on a range of topics, from the flow properties of Van Gogh’s paint to the colour of natural chalk used in artists’ preparation layers. As the operator physically prepares and uses the materials, the steps towards the moment of painting are re-enacted. The products of the re-enactment, the documentation and the reconstruction itself, provide evidence – visual, physical and chemical ‒ for comparison with historic oil paintings

Science and the Knowing Body: Making Sense of Embodied Knowledge in Scientific Experiment

This chapter addresses the potential of reworking experiments or recipes in educational settings. We reflect on educational practice in several university settings, which span the Liberal Arts and Science Program in Utrecht and a course for historians of science and technology at Johns Hopkins University to physics teacher education at the Europa-Universität Flensburg. The classroom use of RRR methods serves to teach the exploratory nature of science, and focuses the attention of students on materials and the sensory dimensions of experiments. Together, the three cases argue that the use of RRR methods in the classroom allows teachers to engage students in new ways, and offers students the opportunity to participate more meaningfully in research into the history of science