The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005

Conservation
The Getty
The J. Paul Getty Trust

Barry Munitz President and Chief Executive Ofcer

Conservation
Institute The Getty Conservation Institute

Newsletter Timothy P. Whalen Director

Jeanne Marie Teutonico Associate Director, Programs

Kathleen Gaines Assistant Director, Administration

Volume 20, Number 1 2005
Kristin Kelly Assistant Director, Dissemination and Research Resources

Giacomo Chiari Chief Scientist

Franois LeBlanc Head of Field Projects

Conservation, The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter

Jeffrey Levin Editor

Angela Escobar Assistant Editor

Joe Molloy Graphic Designer

Color West Lithography Inc. Lithography

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) works internationally to advance

the eld of conservation through scientic research, eld projects,
education and training, and the dissemination of information in
various media. In its programs, the GCI focuses on the creation and
delivery of knowledge that will benet the professionals and organiza-
tions responsible for the conservation of the visual arts.

The GCI is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an international cul-

tural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that also
includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and
the Getty Foundation.

Conservation, The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter,

is distributed free of charge three times per year, to professionals
in conservation and related elds and to members of the public
concerned about conservation. Back issues of the newsletter,
as well as additional information regarding the activities of the GCI,
can be found in the Conservation section of the Gettys Web site.
www.getty.edu

Front cover: A detail of Portrait of Louis XII The Getty Conservation Institute
from the 16th-century illuminated manuscript 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700
The Hours of Louis XII, by Jean Bourdichon. Los Angeles, CA 90049-1684 USA
Raman spectrometrya technique relatively Tel 310 440 7325
new to the eld of art conservationwas Fax 310 440 7702
used to investigate the pigment palettes and
painting methods of the Bourdichon work.
Photo: The J. Paul Getty Museum.

2005 J. Paul Getty Trust

 Feature 4 From Connoisseurship to Technical Art History

Contents
Dialogue 11
The Evolution of the Interdisciplinary Study of Art
By Maryan W. Ainsworth
Once the realm of a small group of connoisseurs, object-based art history has been trans-
formed over the last century through the scientic examination of works of art. Employing
a wide range of analytical tools, researchers from the elds of art history, conservation,
and conservation science are working together in an interdisciplinary manner to evaluate
art objects. These collaborative eorts, originally called technical studies, now compose
a burgeoning eld known as technical art history.

A Matter of Teamwork
A Discussion about Technical Studies and Art History
Is technical art history a separate area of study or another aspect of art-historical research?
How can the interdisciplinary collaboration that the work requires be encouraged and
strengthened? Heather Lechtman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Richard
Stone of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Katharina Walch-von Miller of the Bavarian
State Department of Historical Monuments discuss these questions with Brian Considine
of the J. Paul Getty Museum and Jerey Levin of the .

News in 17 Changing the Way Professionals Work Collaboration in the Preservation

Conservation of Ethnographic and Archaeological Objects
By Nancy Odegaard
The challenge for conservators who work with objects from archaeological sites and
indigenous cultures extends beyond preservation of the physical forms of objects to include
interdisciplinary dialogues that can produce broader cultural information. Examples of
collaborations among conservators, curators, archaeologists, cultural representatives, and
conservation scientists illustrate how conservators can contribute directly to scholarly
inquiry, as well as to the larger cultural discussion surrounding these objects.

21 Recent Initiatives in Technical Art History

By Brian Considine
Through a variety of means, conservators and their colleagues in the humanities and the
sciences are developing new interpretations and meanings for works of art and cultural arti-
facts. Improvements in technology, the combining of technical analysis with primary source
research, new periodicals and monographic studies, and interdisciplinary grant making are
among the elements that are driving these recent initiatives in technical art history.

GCI News 25 Projects, Events, and Publications

Updates on Getty Conservation Institute projects, events, publications, and sta.
From Connoisseurship
to Technical Art History
The Evolution
of the Interdisciplinary
Study of Art
By Maryan W. Ainsworth

Art critic and historian Bernard Berenson (18651959). The opinion of

this authority on Italian Renaissance art greatly inuenced American art
museums, guiding institutions in the purchase of many important works.
Photo: Felix Man Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.

The Materials and Techniques of Medieval

Painting by Daniel V. Thompson of Yale
University. In the 1930s, Thompsons
translation of historic material helped to
provide art historians and conservators
with much-needed information on the
techniques of medieval painters.

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature
A
A of connoisseur-
ship will nd detailed historical accounts in the excellent volume
Historical and Philosophical Issues in the Conservation of Cultural
Heritage (Getty Publications, ). In this anthology, one can fol-
low the issues and the chief players in this admittedly subjective eld
of study that, nonetheless, is the foundation of object-based art his-
tory. Yet, it is undeniable that connoisseurship has gotten a bad
name over the years. This is partly due to the conict of interest that
Gettens as chemist and fellow for technical research. In this
unit ocially became the Department for Conservation and Techni-
cal Research, and it is today known as the Straus Center for Conser-
vation and Technical Studies. Calling attention to investigations of
the materials and techniques of art, as well as to issues of origin and
manufacture, the Foggs journal, Technical Studies in the Field of the
Fine Arts, which rst appeared in , helped establish conserva-
tion science as a new academic discipline in the United States.
can develop in relationships between curators and dealers (the Concurrently at Yale University, Professor Daniel V. Thomp-
names Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen readily come to mind), son was providing translations of the early sources about the tech-
the undeniable connection of monetary value with attribution, and nique of paintersinitially with the th-century Craftsmans
the inexact science of it all. Perhaps most perplexing is the seeming Handbook Il Libro dellArte by Cennino Cennini, which appeared
exclusivity of connoisseurship, fed by the notion that some have an in , dedicated to Edward Forbes. Thompson followed this in
eye (often touted as an inborn trait) and others do not. with The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting, which,
The development over the last century of the scientic exami- in its Dover edition, carried a forward by Bernard Berenson,
nation of works of art has completely altered the way that we evaluate then a venerable old man. Berenson admitted there: I regard all
objects. Employing an increasingly wide range of analytical tools, questions of technique as ancillary to the aesthetic experience.
researchers from the elds of art history, conservation, and conser- Human energy is limited, or at least mine is; but if I had greatly
vation science are demonstrating the value of working together in an more, there is nothing about all the ancillary aids to the understand-
interdisciplinary manner. Originally simply called technical stud- ing of a work of art that I should not try to master. Somewhat
ies, these collaborative eorts now compose a burgeoning eld of begrudgingly, he nally acknowledged the importance of under-
study called technical art history. standing the technique of the painters about whose works he so read-
ily gave pronouncements.
Early Developments Slowly, new scientic techniquesespecially X-radiography,
applied through the eorts of Alan Burroughs of the Fogg at a num-
Just when Berenson was gaining both renown as a connoisseur and ber of American museumsbegan to play a more signicant role.
personal wealth by advising, among others, Isabella Stewart Gardner The resulting studies, which provided a real impetus for art histori-
in her purchases for her famous Boston villa, Edward Forbes was ans and curators to work more closely with conservators and scien-
promoting the new eld of technical studies nearby at Harvard Uni- tists, are still consulted for their observations; they formed the foun-
versitys Fogg Art Museum. With great foresight in , Forbes dations of our knowledge in certain elds of study. In my area of con-
then the Foggs directorarticulated his vision for the future: I centration, northern Renaissance painting, key studies include sci-
hope that some day a technical school may be established, perhaps at entist Paul Coremanss volume on Jan van Eycks Ghent altar-
Harvard, where painters, restorers, and museum ocials may learn piece, LAgneau Mystique au laboratoire: Examen et traitement, one of
about the chemistry of paintings and the care of them, on truly sci- the early publications of the ongoing series of technical studies of
entic principles. In he established at the Fogg the rst early Netherlandish painting from Brusselss Centre National de
department for conservation research in the United States, hiring Recherches, Primitifs Flamands (as it was initially called). Equally
George L. Stout as the head of the department and Rutherford J. inuential on the eld (but mainly after it was published some

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature 5
 years later in a issue of the Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek)
was Johannes Tauberts art history dissertation for Marburg Univer-
sity (Beobachtungen zum schpferischen Arbeitsprozess bei einigen
altniederlndischen Malern). Tauberts dissertation was among the
rst discussions of the interpretive value of underdrawings for con-
noisseurship questions in early Netherlandish paintings. Therein lay
the seeds of Dutch physicist J. R. J. van Asperen de Boers interest in
harnessing infrared technology (then used for military surveillance
purposes) to serve the study of underdrawings in panel paintings.
Since van Asperen de Boer rst developed infrared reectog-
raphy in the s, there have been enormous advances both in new
equipment and in technology, and in the publication of the results
of these studies. In the mid-s came the development of dendro-
chronology for the dating of wood panels, mainly through the
eorts of Peter Klein, wood biologist at the University of Hamburg.
A little earlier, in , the Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek
devoted a volume to the Scientic Examination of Early Nether-
landish Painting: Applications in Art History, which laid out the
basic scientic tools available for providing new information for art
historians to use in their assessments of the paintings of northern
artists. It included models of interpretive studies for artists such as
Jan van Scorel, Cornelis Engebrechtsz, Lucas van Leyden, and
Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The volume Recent Developments in
the Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Painting: Method-
ology, Limitations, and Perspectives (edited by Molly Faries and
Ron Spronk), provides an up-to-date evaluation of the enormous
debt owed to new technical investigations of studies in early Nether-
landish painting. The oeuvres of individual artists are still being
redened, and great strides continue to be made in our understand-
ing of the workshop practices of these painters.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

From the early days of Edward Forbes at the Fogg Art Museum,
cooperation or collaboration between conservators and museum
curators advanced cautiously without a clear modus operandi for
interdisciplinary investigations until the s. In the National
Gallery in London began to publish the National Gallery Technical
Alan Burroughs of Harvards Fogg Art Museum viewing an Bulletin, which has shown a steady increase in the exemplary col-
X-ray of an art object in 1941. Burroughss research on the
use of X-radiography in the examination of art formed one
laboration of the gallerys curators, scientists, and conservators for
of the rst extensive archives of technical documents on art the study of paintings. Greater impetus for building the conservator-
objects. Photo: Courtesy Harvard University Archives; HUP
Burroughs, Alan, A.B. 1920(1). curator relationship in the United States came with the
appointment of John Brealey as the chairman of the Paintings Con-
servation Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A gar-
rulous man and a gifted orator, Brealey was passionate about every
aspect of painting. He took it upon himself, in crusade-like fashion,
to educate art historians about the physical characteristics of paint-
ings and the profession of conservation. He began with graduate art

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature
history students at New York Universitys Institute of Fine Arts; the Hired as the principal investigator for this three-year project,
Mets galleries were his classrooms. I quickly learned that this conuence of dierent disciplines and new
By the early s, Brealey realized that while it was important technologies could not be learned from books. Nothing in my art
to teach predoctoral students, a more immediate need existed among history graduate study at Yale had prepared me for this. It was
those already in curatorial positions in major museums across the strictly on-the-job traininga component, I came to understand,
country. To address this need, he set up weeklong intensive seminars of any interdisciplinary project involving curators, conservators, and
for museum curators and directors. These were held in the Paintings conservation scientists. By the time we had completed the Rem-
Conservation Department of the museum and were taught by brandt study and published its results in , Brealey had decided
Brealey and his entire sta. The invitation to join one of these semi- that the interdisciplinary approach was indispensable for the study
nars was much sought after, and those fortunate to attend still tell of paintings. He added a research scientist to the Mets Paintings
of their impact. Chief among the lessons was learning the language Conservation Department, as well as an art historian. In the latter
to use in discussing a paintings state and condition with conserva- position, I took up the research of the Museums early Netherlandish
tors. The results of new and more eective communication between paintings with van Asperen de Boers newly developed technique
curators and conservators were manifest particularly in one aspect of infrared reectography. The conservators, the scientist, and I all
of the curators jobthat of acquisitions. Auction houses and private took on interns to train, thereby spreading the departments inter-
dealers soon discontinued the routine practice of cleaning paintings disciplinary approach. Today many graduates of this program head
before their sale, instead leaving them for the careful consideration conservation departments in American museumsincluding the

John Brealey, then chairman of the Paint-

ings Conservation Department of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, conduct-
ing a seminar for museum curators and
directors in the early 1980s. Among other
things, these seminars instructed curators
and directors in the language to use in
discussing a paintings state and condition
with conservators. Photo: Dorothy Mahon,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

of the buyers own conservator. Today better-educated and discern- J. Paul Getty Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the
ing buyers increasingly resist acquiring works in poor condition, Art Institute of Chicago, the Seattle Art Museum, the Kimbell Art
even those by important artists. Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. At least former art
Brealey was also a great proponent of interdisciplinary study historian interns have taken up positions as curators in museums and
and research, and he supported two research projects in technical art as professors of art history in the United States and abroad. Depart-
history. With the Mets research scientist, Pieter Meyers, and the ments of scientic research sprang up at the Getty Conservation
then curator of th-century Dutch and Flemish painting, Egbert Institute, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, .., under
Haverkamp-Begemann, Brealey initiated a study of the museums Ren de la Rie, and most recently again at the Metropolitan Museum
Rembrandt paintings using neutron activation autoradiography. of Art under Marco Leona. The enlightened view and support

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature 7
oered to scientic research by the Mellon Foundation, in particular Rembrandts workshop procedures. In Rembrandt was also
by Angelica Zander Rudenstine, has been pivotal for new develop- the subject of one of the National Gallery in Londons exemplary
ments in instrumentation and techniques, treatment methods, and interdisciplinary exhibitions and publications in the series of Art in
museum environment research. the Making. Here the individual entries do not carry the name of one
Although it is the conservators and scientists who have the author but are the product of group discussions, writing, and editing
knowledge and skills to provide new technical information that can by curators, scientists, and conservators. Such consensus is not
alter interpretations in art history, their day-to-day duties seldom always the case; in the Metropolitan Museums exhibition
permit them to devote time to in-depth research. Special projects, Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt, the collaboration of conservator and
such as the preparation of the scholarly catalogues of a collection, curator ultimately produced two separate volumes representing dis-
oer such an opportunity, as do reinstallationslike that of the parate views.
Gubbio Studiolo at the Metropolitan Museumthat involve the In the Modern eld, there has been increased dialogue
close physical examination of the components of a room, their treat- between conservators and curators about artists working proce-
ment over the years, their original placement, and questions of dures, including those of Gauguin, van Gogh, and Mondrian. Just as
authenticity. The joint study of the Gubbio Studiolo by curator Olga important are interdisciplinary discussions regarding the preserva-
Raggio and conservator Antoine Wilmering led to its reconstruction tion of the works of Modern artists such as Eva Hesse, Mark Rothko,
and installation. The arrangement of the paintings of the Liberal and Barnett Newman. It remains baing to me why this kind of in-
Arts by Joos van Wassenhove and Pedro Berruguete in the Studiolo, depth discussion between conservators and curators has not rou-
however, has been challenged by Lorne Campbell, research curator tinely become part of the apparatus of a catalogue raisonn or of any
at the National Gallery in London, on the basis of inconsistencies he monographic exhibition.
sees in the coordination of real and faux architectural details and the Personal Viewpoints, Thoughts about Paintings Conservation
placement of the intarsias (mosaic inlaid elements in wood). This (edited by Mark Leonard and published in by the ), oers
lively debate continues, demonstrating that it is not just the technical papers and discussions from a June seminar of conservators,
information per se but also the interpretation of it that are open for museum scientists, and curators held at the Getty Museum. The
discussion. seminar was a welcome initiative in establishing the importance of
The recent reconsideration of the early Italian Renaissance communication among the elds as a standard, ongoing modus ope-
paintings collection at the Yale University Art Gallery, including randi. Such meetings, of course, dont occur without the nancial
the Jarves Collection (acquired by Yale in ), became the focus support of a foundation or institution. In the past years or so, the
of two paintings conservation departmentsone at Yale and the College Art Association () and the American Institute for Con-
other at the Gettyin a collaboration to study and dene treatments servation of Historic and Artistic Works () have oered a number
for the panels. This collaboration involved curators, conservators, of sessions that have highlighted projects and studies featuring col-
and conservation scientists in the reexamination of every aspect of laborative work. An incentive for carrying out these investigations
the materials, technique, execution, and current condition of numer- has been oered by the , which yearly acknowledges achievement
ous early paintings. The recently published volume of essays, Early in this area through its / Joint Award for Distinction in
Italian Paintings: Approaches to Conservation: Proceedings of a Scholarship and Conservation. The number of worthy candidates for
Symposium at the Yale University Art Gallery, April (edited this award remains small, indicating the paucity of ongoing collab-
by Patricia Sherwin Garland), should be required reading for all orative projects in conservation and art history/curatorship.
students of Italian painting and for those interested in the history Such initiatives have been fostered since through the
and care of a collection. Kress Paired Fellowships for Research in Conservation and the His-
Representative of the interdisciplinary and collaborative study tory of Art and Archaeology, oered by the Center for Advanced
of paintings are several projects concerning Rembrandt. The Rem- Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery in Washington. In
brandt Research Project was begun in by a group of art histori- an additional application was made to the Getty Trust for a
ans, all with the same background and training. As the project three-year cycle of fellowships. Although the Kress fellowships limit
evolved, Ernst van de Wetering took the helm and changed the the elds of research to Western art up to the early th century, the
makeup of the group to a truly interdisciplinary one, with specialists Getty grant allows fellows to pursue research in any branch of art
from dierent elds, including conservation science. The involve- history or archaeology, regardless of eld, period, or culture. This
ment of diverse specialists invigorated the project and enabled more exciting (but as yet underutilized opportunity) has enabled new col-
authoritative conclusions that led to changes of mind on questions of laborative research on a wide range of topics, from wall paintings
attribution and dating, as well as an important reconsideration of along the Silk Road of China, to Renaissance bronze statues, to the

8
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature
 history and technology of Renaissance and Baroque hand-colored
prints. The benets reaped from these paired fellowships are not
restricted to new ndings but encompass the renement of the very
methodologies employed. Support for such groundbreaking studies
must continue.

Fostering Communication

How can we encourage closer communication among conservators,

conservation scientists, and curators?
First, we need better education at an earlier stage about what
these specialists do and about the enormous interpretative value of
technical investigations of art. I have often thought that the elective
course I teach on technical art history for senior art history majors at
Barnard and Columbia colleges ought not only to be required but
also oered earlier than the senior year. With the diverse approaches
today to the study of art history in colleges and universities, I fear

Details of Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio, 15th century (ca. 1479
82), designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (14391490) and executed
by Giuliano da Maiano (14321490). The reinstallation of the Gubbio Studiolo
that rsthand investigations of art objects lag behind.
at the Metropolitan Museum involved extensive interdisciplinary collabora- For graduate students, there is an even greater need for a
tion. Made in Gubbio, Italy. Walnut, beech, rosewood, oak, and fruitwoods
on walnut base; H. 15 ft., 101516 in. (485 cm), W. 16 ft., 111516 in. (518 cm), course in technical art history. The Institute of Fine Arts in New
D. 12 ft., 7316 in. (384 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1939 York is one of the few places where graduate art history students are
(39.153). Photo: 1996 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
required to take a course in the practice of conservation and conser-
vation science, and the conservators must achieve a masters degree
in art history. The eect of the lack of these oerings elsewhere is
apparent when we consider applicants for curatorial positions in our
museums. Too many applicants have little or no rsthand experience

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature 9
with objects, and they are unaware of judgment calls on the state and discussions, interactions, and forums.
condition of works; they may not even know how to talk with conser- Third, institutions should take a more aggressive lead in pub-
vators about these issues. We need more opportunities for intern- lishing the results of joint projects in art history and conservation.
ships at the graduate level in order for students to gain intimate Despite the great number of art books published yearly in this coun-
knowledge of interdisciplinary, collaborative work. Since the early try, very few deal directly with questions of technical art history.
s, I have oered an interdisciplinary internship for graduate art The Belgium publisher Brepols stands out as being notably adven-
history students. It aims to teach an approach that marries the elds turous in this regard. The Me Fecit series, of which I am the editor,
of conservation, scientic investigation, and art history. Identifying is dedicated to the technical investigation of the works of one artists
funding for this ongoing internship is not always easy; supporting oeuvre or of one work, either by a single author or by a group of
new acquisitions, galleries, or exhibitions is a far more high-prole authors. We need greater recognition at other publishing houses that
investment for interested donors. Yet the rewards of such an intern- this topic is essential for the future development of curatorial and
ship program are readily measured. These interns have found conservation work. More publications in this area will provide
important curatorial positions in this country and abroad, where greater access to information for those who are not part of a museum
their unique experiences and training have made them stand out settingthat is, colleagues in universities and colleges, both stu-
from other applicants and have aorded them a more mutually satis- dents and their professors.
fying curator-conservator relationship from the outset. Great strides have been made in the relationship between the
Second, we need more opportunities for collaborative study conservator and the curator since Edward Forbes rst articulated his

Above: Self-portrait by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1660.

Oil on canvas, 3158 in. x 2612 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.618). Photo: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Right: An autoradiograph of Rembrandts Self-portrait. In the

late 1970s, a team of scientists and art historians from the Met-
ropolitan undertook an interdisciplinary study of the museums
Rembrandt paintings, which included neutron activation autora-
diography. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

in our museums. Directors must recognize the extraordinary desire for interdisciplinary, collaborative work. But this mutually
benet of projects among their curators, conservation scientists, benecial association must be supported and developed in order to
and conservators. Such projects could be part of the yearly objectives maintain momentum toward new discoveries about art and artists.
of sta members. For those who are unfamiliar with how such Technical art historyan enhanced and more scientic connois-
investigations work, there should be demonstrations as part of sta seurshipprovides the foundation for our appreciation and under-
training. New curators should become acquainted with the appro- standing of human artistic endeavor.
priate conservators at the earliest possible moment, in order to
begin working in collaboration. This partnership should lead to Maryan W. Ainsworth is curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York.
more opportunities in museums and educational institutions for

10
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Feature
A Matter of Teamwork
A Discussion
about
Technical art history is a term that is often used
Technical Studies
but not necessarily universally embraced. Is it a sep-
arate area of study or simply another aspect of art- and Art History
historical research? And how can the interdisciplin-
ary collaboration that the work requires be encour-
aged and strengthened? Conservation put these and
other related questions to three prominent experts
with extensive experience in technical studies. Jeffrey Levin: The rst and most obvious question is what the term
technical art history means to each of you.
Heather Lechtman is professor of Archaeology and
Ancient Technology in the Department of Materials Heather Lechtman: I think that for a variety of reasons it would be a
Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Insti- mistake to use the term technical art history. When one describes an
tute of Technology. She is also director of the Center activity by calling it technical art history, one is really dening a new
for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnol- eld. Art history is an intellectual pursuit that has had a long time to
ogy, a consortium of eight Boston-area universities develop and that has a whole menu of methods brought to the intel-
and museums. Ms. Lechtman is the recipient of a lectual enterprise. In art history, there are people who do philologi-
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation cal studies, iconographic studies, or stylistic studies. And now there
award (). are people who do technical studies of one kind or another within
this discipline. Those are all methodological approaches to a particu-
Richard Stone is senior museum conservator in the
lar intellectual tradition. Of course, as you bring newer methods to
Department of Objects Conservation at the Metro-
the tradition, the tradition changes. But saying technical art his-
politan Museum of Art in New York, where he has
tory is a practice akin to the use of the word archaeometry, which, in
been on sta for nearly years. His main interests
my view, was a term mistakenly used early on to describe a technical
lie in the technology of artworks in nonferrous
investigation of archaeological materials. Archaeometry has almost
metals, especially Renaissance bronze sculptures.
developed as a discipline unto itself and has not been successful in
Katharina Walch-von Miller is a trained harpsi- illuminating what archaeologists are trying to understand. The use
chord maker and has a degree in furniture conserva- of terms like archaeometry and technical art history tends to dene
tion. Since she has been at the Bayerisches some new kind of eld, and the payo is negative. I dont think that
Landesamt fr Denkmalpege (Bavarian State its necessary to say more than this group of people in this lab per-
Department of Historical Monuments), where she is forms scientic analyses or technical studies on objects of art with
responsible for painted and wooden church interiors, the intent of illuminating historical issues.
as well as secular interiors. Her particular interest is
Richard Stone: I couldnt agree more strongly. I consider the whole
research on historical materials and techniques,
enterprise simply as art history continued by other means. Art
especially lacquers and varnishes.
history implies that the artifact that you are looking at is worth
They spoke with Brian Considine, conservator individual contemplation. And, second, that the questions asked are
of decorative arts and sculpture at the J. Paul Getty historical. My own lifes work has been solving rather basic art-
Museum, and Jerey Levin, editor of Conservation, historical problems. Who cast this bronze and why do we have more
The GCI Newsletter. than one version of it? Why do they look similaror why dont they

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue 11
look similar? These are straightforward art-historical questions that What weve all been

Photo: Donna Coveney

are direct extensions of the stylistic techniques that most art histori-
striving for is to nd
ans were trained on.
However, there is the temptation to become wedded to a
ways in which the
proceduresay neutron activation, Raman spectrography, stable common expectation
isotope ratios, or even traditional stylistic analysis. You know a tech- that we have
nique and you exploit it. Theres nothing inherently wrong with this.
whether were con-
However, sometimes the material that comes out is not really of
direct interest for answering signicant historical questions. It is
servators or whether
more fruitful to rst pose a question and then to nd a way of were art historians
answering it. This frequently demands collaboration, and collabora- can be realized by
tion means surmounting interdisciplinary barriersgetting art
working together.
historians, scientists, and conservators to do things that they have
not been in the habit of doing with one another. For instance, art Heather Lechtman
historians basically do not collaborate. This isnt unique to art histo-
rians. Its true of all the humanities. People are used to doing things a
discipline; history is the architecture on which it is built. In archae-
certain way, and collaboration is regarded by many in the humanities
ology, that architecture is anthropology. When archaeologists look at
as equivalent to playing tennis with the net down, somehow an
artifacts, regardless of the methods that they use, they are really try-
unsporting activity.
ing to answer questions about people. Thats also true about art his-
I agree with Heather. We dont want to create another eld. We
torians. Theyre using an object that somebody considers a work of
want to enlarge and enrich an existing eld. We want to be able to
art, not so much to say something about the object but ultimately
bring new types of evidence to bear on old questions, and also dis-
about how it got to be what it isthe way it was designed and built
cover new questions that we never thought of asking.
and used and peoples attitudes toward it. These matters have to do
Katharina Walch-von Miller: For me, this term, technical art history, is with the social and cultural context in which these things functioned.
confusing, but maybe its a question of language. In German, we What we are looking for are new approaches to answer large ques-
more often use the term historical art technology, which perhaps tions about human beings who made these items for specic reasons
means the same. For me whats most important is that there is team- and used them for specic purposes.
work among at least three dierent disciplinesthe conservator, the What weve all been striving for is to nd ways in which the
conservation scientist, and the art historianto study an object of common expectation that we havewhether were conservators or
interest. Everyone has a part. For the art historian, it could be look- whether were art historianscan be realized by working together.
ing at the artists instructions or bills or contracts. For the conserva- The only recent program that I know of that has tried to bring these
tion scientist, it could be analyzing historical and modern materials groups together is the National Gallery program called the Kress
to compare the results, information, or written historical sources. Paired Fellowships for Research in Conservation and the History
And for conservators, it is the very important study of sources. of Art and Archaeology. The National Gallery internationally
In my work, I usually start with observations and initial solicits applications for conservators and art historians to come
research, and during this process certain questions arise in connec- forward with research projects that can only be accomplished if they
tion with materials and techniques. To answer these questions, its work together.
very important to look for the allusions in written or printed sources.
Brian Considine: Heather, I hear your message of the need for
The aim has to be a correct comparison between the object and theo-
increased interdisciplinary collaboration. My sense is that the
retic technical studies. The quality of that step depends on the qual-
conservators, conservation scientists, and art historians within
ity of researchwhich itself depends on the good teamwork of the
the museum communitywhich is the community within which
specialists involved. I agree that this is seldom the case and that we
I workare working this out, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes
have to do more.
more eectively, but I do think that we are making a lot of prog-
Lechtman: Using the term technical art history would provoke people ress. I am encouraged by the outreach that I see to the university
to dene a new eld rather than stimulate them to mend the breach research community. For example, we have a project with the
between conservators and conservation scientists, on the one hand, Department of Neurobiology at USC [University of Southern
and curators or art historians, on the other. Art history is a historical California] working on antibodies in the identication of pro-

12
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue
teinaceous materials. And theres the scholar program here at the Walch-von Miller: I have seen some development in collaboration in
GCI, which encourages people to make the best possible use of Germany and in Europe over the last or years, and this work
Getty-wide resources, the original documents in the library, the has inuenced all professional disciplines in art. But it is happening
museums collection, that kind of thing. I do think were moving very slowly. Professional work is not inuenced enough by this
in the right direction. approach to research. I am often asked the reason for this. Arent col-
leagues curious enough or is it a question of art historians working
Walch-von Miller: I had a very good experience with teamwork during
with other disciplines? And one reason could be that perhaps it is too
my six years on a project of research and conservation of lacquered
dicult to obtain all the possible information and technological
and varnished surfaces. Together with my colleagues, conservation
know-how.
scientists Ursula Baumer and Johann Koller from the Doerner Insti-
It would be helpful to organize special Web sites that are so
tute in Munich, we researched the technique and the use of materi-
well known that scientists in that eld are interested in publishing
als on a famous lacquer cabinet, the so-called Cabinet of Miniatures
results there. But there has to be professional quality control. In my
from the Munich Residenz. Hermann Neumann, a trained architect,
opinion, thats a big problem. I read a lot of research that I cant
headed the project and was responsible for the historical aspects.
believe has been published. In any case, theres a great opportunity,
The cabinet was destroyed in World War II, and the aim was to
in my opinion, to develop the dialogue between conservator and art
reconstruct the original red gloss lacquer, based upon two doors that
historian, as well as conservation scientist, but we have a lot to learn
survived the war. After our conservation research and the very com-
about teamwork. Every discipline is of equal importance, regardless
plicated analysis conducted by the conservation scientists, we tested
of its age.
for the reconstruction. At the beginning, we were not very success-
ful. We had problems with the hardness or the softness of the differ- Levin: Katharina, you just oered one suggestion for supporting
ent lacquer mixtures, of the various layers, problems with the color greater collaboration. What other things can and should be done
of pigment and the dyestus, with the structure of the paint, and so to encourage interdisciplinary work?
on. We found the solution only through intensive study of the con-
Lechtman: I dont think were going to make very big strides in mean-
temporary published literature, and there we discovered technical
ingful collaborations until such time as the academic discipline of art
details and materials that we had not observed before.
historythat is, the way it is taughtundergoes dramatic change.
Conservation scientists can nd only what they are looking
In the s and s, places like Harvard and other great institu-
for, so if youre not looking for camphor or other materials, you will
tions made an eort to teach students about the materials and the
never nd them. Although we worked side by side with the conser-
techniques of artists. Over the years, Ive seen that trend end. Art
vation scientists of the Doerner Institute, intensive dialogue was
history students these days almost dont even look at objects. Every-
necessary. We got to know a lot of materials that we didnt know
thing is done with slides or on a computer screen. There is nowhere
previously. If you want to work together and have success, its only
in the curriculum, either at the undergraduate or graduate level, that
possible with continuous dialogue and collaboration.
makes them aware of the fact that materials matter, that technique
Levin: I see two themes emerging here. One is the need for greater matters, that social context matters. It has all simply disappeared.
interdisciplinary collaboration, which you all seem to be saying
Stone: Well, it hasnt entirely disappeared. I give a course!
can be impeded by thinking of technical art history as a sepa-
rate discipline. The other goes to the issue of addressing questions, Lechtman: Dick and I were both in the same class at the New York
as opposed to simply using techniques. With respect to collabora- University Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center, and the good
tion, do you agree with what Brian is saying in terms of there thing about that program has been its insistence that the conserva-
being increased collaboration among conservation scientists and tion students also get a masters degree in the history of art. Students
conservators and art historians and curators over the last to in that program have a pretty good idea of what art history is all
yearsor is this something thats still a struggle? about, what the intellectual issues are all about, what the traditions
are all about, so that when they do their work, they are able to handle
Stone: There has denitely been progress. However, that progress is
the issues and the data both from the scientic side and the tradi-
essentially on a personal, one-to-one, basis. One can nd scientists,
tional historical side. But that has not happened in art history aca-
conservators, curators, and art historians who work together and
demic education. Art historians are trained, more or less, with no
nd one anothers work mutually supportive. Nevertheless, the habit
input from the scientic side, which is going to be required for them
of sustained and regular collaboration has not reached the critical
to understand not only that they need to collaborate but that these
mass necessary for it to be self-sustaining. It has certainly not yet
issues matter. In the s, when we established our Center for
penetrated into the great bulk of usual and customary research.

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue 13
Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnologywhich is an

Photo: Elizabeth Rosen Stone

eight-university consortiumwe had two or three graduate stu-
dents every year from Harvard who were getting their doctorates in
art history and who came to learn about materials. I havent seen a
student from the art history department at Harvard in years or The habit of
more. They come from archaeology. sustained and regular
Stone: Art history has changed since Heather and I were graduate collaboration has
students. The last years have been a period in which the notion of not reached the
art-historical theory has become of almost obsessive concern. Peo-
critical mass
ple now study art not so much from the point of view of the explica-
tion and illumination of a given work of art, but as part of a thematic
necessary for it to
data bank for what are actually other disciplinesfrequently politi- be self-sustaining.
cal history and sociology, but especially the various new disci-
Richard Stone
plines of the later th century, with their frequently cumbersome
ideological freight. Many people now studying art historyespe-
cially those outside of museumsare dealing with issues where an That has only continued. We are dating ceramics with ther-
individual work of art as a primary historical document has no very mal luminescence. We are dating furniture with dendrochronol-
great signicance and where the physical examination of individual ogy, and also comparing analysis of the materials in our collec-
artworks seems like an arcane irrelevance. tion with published period treatises from the library. Thats the
kind of information that we can contribute to the dialogue and
Levin: Katharina, do you sense the same change in the way art
that has captured the attention of the art historians with whom
history is taught and thought about in Europe as Dick and
we work. In a sense were preaching to the choir because theyre in
Heather are describing here in the United States?
museums, theyre object-oriented people. I do acknowledge the
Walch-von Miller: I would say the problem is that the training of art dierence in people who come to the discipline from a theoretical
history students often does not look enough to other elds. It is the approach. But I nd the dialogue with the art historians now to
opposite for conservation students. In Germany, conservators have be very exciting.
to study art-historical elds and scientic elds, so they might not be
Stone: Katharina said something that I strongly agree with: that it is
experts in these disciplines but they are open to their problems. This
a good thing to return to the primary documents. These are the old
is very important. Im also convinced that its very important to
recipe and trade books. There are a surprising number of them, but
teach our students to read historical sources or technical history and
while bibliographies are growing, not enough people seem to be
to tell them what that oers to us. They have to learn step-by-step to
reading the texts. Reading this material is, no doubt, dicult. One
read this kind of literature. That means a handwritten manuscript
frequently does not know whether the diculties are actually in the
can be very dicult, but most dicult, in my point of view, is a cor-
text or the product of ones own ignorance.
rect understanding and interpretationhere you can make a lot of
The major problem is that while the history of science is our-
mistakes. So I would say its necessary for every discipline to have a
ishing, the history of technologyat least outside of archaeological
better education in the other elds. In Germany, in the last few years,
disciplinesis not. There is amazingly little new concrete informa-
many students of conservation have made a good start.
tion on even the most pervasive technical processes and devices,
Considine: Id like to follow up on this point about the change in especially for the early Modern period. It is almost as if scholars
art historians. My experience within the museum is dierent were ashamed to be caught writing about mere nuts and bolts. It
because I see them keenly interested in the objects, and particu- should, after all, be the job of a scholar of technology to explain what
larly interested in working with us on the technical study of those actually happened, as well as its social signicance. Technology
objects. Twenty years ago, when we started taking X-radiographs existed long before there was anything called science. It is an inde-
and bronzes with Peter Fusco, who was then curator of sculpture pendent and universal human activity, which hasnt received nearly
at the Getty, it was tremendously exciting. He was seeing things enough attention in recent yearshence the diculties with the pri-
that he was not used to seeing, and he realized the potential that mary texts. We simply do not have sucient antiquarian knowledge
technical study had for bringing completely new information to to read them properly.
the study of bronze sculpture.

14
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue
Walch-von Miller: An example of how dicult this can be is our Stone: But the technical information isnt integrated into the text.
research on Venetian turpentine. This term changed during the cen- One frequently reads catalogues where its obvious that the people
turies, and since the second half of the th century, it often meant a who wrote the art-historical part and the people who wrote the tech-
mixture of larch turpentine and pine resin. Thats why you can read nical part did not read one anothers work. I nd this over and over
in the modern literature on painting techniques that Venetian tur- again. Its as if they were in dierent countries and communicating
pentine has a strong tendency for yellowing and drying badly and so by carrier pigeon.
on and that it should not be used for lacquers. Reading historical rec-
Considine: I agree. But I think we just have to take heart that its
ipes, I was surprised that Venetian turpentine was recommended so
a long process and that we are making progress.
often. With the help of a critical study of printed sources, I learned
that Venetian turpentine in the th century was also called Cyprus Walch-von Miller: As Ive said, I think we need a medium to come
or Chios turpentine, and it was obtained from the so-called turpen- together in collaboration. Its really hard to develop this conversation
tine treePistacia terebinthus. Because of trade problems, it was between elds. What we need, on the one hand, is education that
replaced more and more with larch turpentine. With the help of his- explains to young people how necessary it is. On the other hand,
torical sources, we also learned that this Venetian turpentine mostly we have some responsibility ourselveswe have to provide good
was not used as a balsam but as a resin that was very helpful for dry- examples of the wonderful output that can come through teamwork
ing. The gas chromatographymass spectrometry [-] analysis, and collaboration.
which was undertaken in parallel, conrmed the knowledge that we
Considine: I guess the nal question is why are we doing this?
learned from the sources. This was the impressive result of very pro-
To what end is our researchwhat does it serve, and is it
ductive teamwork with conservation scientists Ursula Baumer and
worthwhile?
Johann Koller, as well as with Dietger Grosser, a biologist, doing
research on historical literature. Stone: One can at least hope that both humane and scientic studies
will continue to be driven by our curiosity, even if their ultimate end
Stone: I have a pressing issue right now that involves the same prob-
remains obscure, like most everything else. It is the simple enlarge-
lem that Katharina is talking about. Im working on a long-term
ment of our curiosity that makes the most dierence. While there
project on the patination of Renaissance bronzes, and a problem I
may be many wrong answers, there are few wrong questions.
have is that at present the Metropolitan Museum does not have an
organic chemistalthough this is scheduled to be remedied. While Levin: I think what may be partly behind Brians question is
most of the primary analytical research on Renaissance varnish pati- something that I heard early on in this conversationthis
nas was done as early as about in the National Gallery in notion that in some instances technology or a new technique
LondonI only recently began doing experimental reproductions of drives the research, rather than an important question.
Renaissance patinas based on these analyses. Almost surprisingly,
Stone: Well, thats not unique to any one discipline. The technique
they were actually rather successful. Now, however, I realize that
tends to drive the research rather than curiosity.
some of the materials that I used were not what I thought they were.
Consequently, I am very anxious to get some help securely distin- Levin: In this particular eld, is that more or less of a problem
guishing them. Its not a simple question of the museum having than in other endeavors?
enough personnelits a question of nding the right person to work
Stone: One thing that is obvious to meat least about life in a
together with me in a common endeavor.
museum and life in a university, because Ive been in bothis
Considine: One area in which collaboration has made progress that success at a university and success at a museum are based on
is exhibitionsparticularly the opportunity to undertake dierent predicates. Success in an academic setting, especially the
technical study in preparation for an exhibition catalogue or sciences, means succeeding in an area where others are succeeding
technical study of the objects, once they have been gathered at that is, in a hot eld. You can work on exceedingly clever projects
one place for an exhibition. The work that Jane Bassett did and discover marvelous facts, but if they are not of interest to your
following the Getty exhibition on Adriaen de Vries is a good contemporaries, youre nowhere. But in a museum setting, where
example of that. In general, the eld has come to expect some objects are being acquired and youre forced to say something about
technical information in a scholarly catalogue. In fact, the Getty them at short notice, it is more a question of sheer survival. Youre
Foundation really expects that of an applicant seeking funding not so much trying to keep up with your peers as trying to prevent
for a permanent-collection catalogue. yourself from being caught up in some strikingly outrageous error.

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue 15
In such a situation, you are obliged to be curious about virtually

Photo: Christina Lehsten/argum

everything, and I nd that very exciting. For me whats most
Lechtman: At least in this country, were being embarrassed by the important is that
failure of the liberal arts education system. The liberal arts once there is teamwork
really did allow you to operate in a complex world, giving you the
among at least
ability to handle data from the sciences, the humanities, and the
social sciencesmaybe not all of it in the same depth, but you had to three different
be able to manage disparate data elds and perspectives. Now thats disciplines
disappeared. We are trying in this eldwhich joins art history, the conservator, the
archaeology, scienceto put back what was once available to stu-
conservation scientist,
dents in their higher education and what is no longer there because
of the fractionation thats occurred. The only way to be successful in and the art historian .
our eld is to be able to manage several sets of data and to be able to Katharina Walch-von Miller
ask questions that can be solved by combining those data sets. When
I look at a museum catalogue these days, I am gratied to see how
much more technical information there isand not just in the Stone: Well, its not quite that simple. If youre working in a museum,
appendix. But its slow. What Dick tries to do in the museum, what youre trapped by the museum schedule. You may ultimately have
Katharina tries to do with her institution, and what Im trying to do time to do your own work, but it has to be worked in around the
at an institute of technology is to break down this divide between schedule of shows and acquisitions. We always seem to have three
science on one side and the rest of the world on the other. And in my major shows coming in at exactly the same time. The museum tries
tenure here, I would say that Ive been barely successful. to schedule it otherwise, but something always seems to prevent that
from happening.
Stone: I have art history students now whoit is clear from their
responseshave managed, in the st century, to get to a graduate Lechtman: I do think, in fact, that tremendous progress has been
education without once having been exposed to a physical science. made. Its just that its very slow. When youre in it day-to-day, you
dont notice the advances so much. But I think that the advances are
Lechtman: This is what were against. But I think a great deal of
measurable, and the successes sometimes have been brilliant.
progress has been made. Youre quite right, Brianin museums and
catalogues, thats where we see it most obviously. We just have to
keep up the ght. Its extraordinarily important. A couple of years
ago I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art at a time when it was
about to receive a major gift in support of its conservation center.
I met with the museums director and I said, You know, if you
really want to keep your conservation sta interested in doing things
that they feel are important, of the ve days a week that those
people are working in the lab, youve got to give them one day a week
to do their own research. People need to be able to do their own
thingand if they can, then the likelihood is higher that they will
reach out to work with other people on subjects that they nd inter-
esting and exciting.

Considine: The Getty Foundation had a category of grants for

midcareer training for museum conservators. The grant could
have paid for the conservators leave and a replacement position.
Nobody even applied for them.

Lechtman: Thats probably because their bosses said that they

couldnt.

16
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 Dialogue
 A team including a toxologist, conservator, conservation
scientist, and members of the Hopi tribe discuss how to
interpret X-ray uorescence spectroscopy data from

A
Hopi objects. Analysis revealed the presence of heavy
metals (i.e., arsenic, mercury, and lead) in pigments,

Changing
and possible pesticide residuesboth potential health
hazards. Photo: Melissa Huber, Arizona State Museum,
University of Arizona.

the Way A

Professionals objects move toward greater cultural sensitivity to the objects

in their care, the fact that they are charged with the task of protect-

Work ing and preserving the cultural heritage of others becomes increas-
ingly apparent.

Collaboration
Professional conservators focus on preservation. Sometimes
their assessments of objects and collections lead solely to treatment.
But at other times, their investigations and the subsequent knowl-
in the edge produced can also inuence the overall narrative of a research
project. Conservators who work with objects from archaeological
Preservation sites and indigenous cultures may represent just one specialty
among many on a project. In these instances, the challenge for the

of Ethnographic conservator extends beyond preservation of the physical form of the

objects to include interdisciplinary dialogues with other specialists,

and and the contribution of relevant information to a larger body of

human knowledge.

Archaeological
More and more, there are examples of collaboration among
conservators and curators, archaeologists, cultural representatives,
conservation scientists, and others that illustrate how conservators
Objects of any specialty can contribute to cultural discussions through their
focus on analysis and deterioration. Because conservators have
By Nancy Odegaard a unique ability to see and understand the material aspects of objects,
to relate material structure to technology, and to stabilize and
protect objects from deterioration, they can contribute directly
to scholarly inquiryprovided, of course, that they are part of
the discussion.

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation 17
Near right: A conservator from the
Arizona State Museum and a represen-
tative from the Gila River Indian Com-
munity discuss strategies for removal
of adhesive from archaeological
ceramic vessels, and for the objects
ongoing care and storage. Photo:
Janelle Weakly, Arizona State Museum,
University of Arizona.

Far right: A storage solution for pot-

tery subject to repatriation under the
Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act. The potterys failed
adhesives were removed using solvent
vapor, the sherds placed in an archival
box, and access to the stored object
restricted. Photo: Julie Unruh, Arizona
State Museum, University of Arizona.

Technical Studies broader studies remains a challenge. In addition, issues of deteriora-

tion and stabilization are seldom discussed in anthropological mate-
Over the last years, scientic and technical studies have become rial culture studies, and thus, references to alterations due to
an important part of the conservation eld. Conservation science research, interpretation, or curation are rare.
investigates the variations of material and technology over time Many ethnographic conservators share with researchers,
through the use of analytical techniques and through the application scholars, and curators of anthropology an interest in contextual
of data to models that explain how raw materials are transformed issues and broader cultural information. Yet ethnographic objects
into new materials (as when clay constituents transform into a are most often evaluated in reference to Western art rather than in
ceramic) and how they decompose. This specialized knowledge reference to the indigenous traditions from which they originate.
complements and supports studies of deterioration and the develop- Even though ethnographic conservators refer to information col-
ment of stabilization strategies. lected by anthropologists, they usually rely on a treatment approach
Traditionally, studies in conservation start with artifact struc- derived from ne arts conservation. Few ne arts conservators are
ture. (In fact, sometimes is it assumed that this is all that remains, or prepared or sensitized for work that takes into consideration anthro-
all that needs to be studied.) After a review of materials composition pologys contextual issues. Material culture studies oer a contrast
and construction techniques, comparative methods are used to to the studies of connoisseurship and aesthetics used by art histori-
assess the artifacts response to the environment or its state of dete- ans and ne arts conservators.
rioration, which is then examined and reported. Finally, treatment
techniques are evaluated, and new treatments are devised to stabilize
Material Culture Studies
the symptoms of deterioration visible on the object. The overall
approach is built on tangible material structure. Material Culture Studies is the exploration of the relationship
Studies in technical art history have been used in conservation between artifacts and social issues. Drawing from anthropology,
for identifying raw materials, evaluating structure and properties of archaeology, design, history, geography, and museology, these stud-
creative technologies, and explaining the mechanisms of deteriora- ies provide a exible framework for research and discussion of a wide
tion. Technical art history can also provide a range of data useful to range of information regarding cultural belief, behavior, history, and
research in such areas as provenance or dating, technological style survival. It is not assumed that a collection or the cultures are xed.
studies, authentication, and the testing of theories about the artists As information is interpreted, reconstructed, reinforced, and quali-
aesthetics. As the scientic methods of studying, measuring, and ed through several stages of research, perceptions from all periods
characterizing material culture become more sophisticated, a wider of a collections history are valued.
range of research questions may be investigated. The integration of material culture studies with conservation
Archaeological science has successfully introduced a wide studies oers signicant benets. First, aspects of material culture
range of analytical techniques to the study of archaeology. However, studies can assist conservation as it looks for ways to improve the
incorporating the results obtained from these techniques into methodology for considering intangible information. Second,

18
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation
 A conservator utilizing techniques
from both conservation and con-
servation science to enhance her
study of accretions and the dete-
rioration of surfaces on ceramic
vessels. Photo: Melissa Huber,
Arizona State Museum, University
of Arizona.

conservation observations may illuminate many issues in the study care of the nearly , Southwest ceramic vessels in the collection.
of a culture that have previously gone unnoticed. Common to both This collaboration has aected the design of storage facilities, and
disciplines is a need to understand the physical properties of objects. the materials used in storage, treatment, and handling procedures.
Through this integrated approach, ethnographic conservators For example, funerary objects will be separated from other pottery.
participate in research that evaluates the importance of an object Plastics will not be used for storage containers or supports for these
based on what can be learned from its context, the ideas behind it, items; stabilization treatments will not be initiated; and these
and the forces that created it. Today it is understood by many ethno- objects will not be exhibited. Instead, boxes will hold untreated
graphic conservators that without the inclusion of context, the use of vessels with weakened joins. These items will receive minimal
ethnographic objects in museums and their alteration (change handling, and cultural consultations will be arranged to address
through reassembly, consolidation treatment, replacement parts, management questions.
pesticides, or exhibit mounts) can actually contribute to physical
deterioration, to the loss of vital cultural information, and to the dis- New Partnerships, New Responsibilities
tortion of intangible integrity. For example, musical instruments
constitute an object class for which certain types of changes, or the Most often, the analysis and the interpretation of ethnographic and
lack of special care techniques, will distort or damage the intangible archaeological material culture have been the domain of ethno-
sound quality. graphic or archaeological curators. Within the conservation eld,
In recent years, some conservators of indigenous or ethno- the potential benets of preserving material culture while respecting
graphic objects have been challenged to consider the various cultural cultural integrity are gaining recognition as an important issue.
factors that may contribute to the deterioration of material culture or What, then, is the role of conservators in understanding the behavior,
that may prescribe which cultural conditions should be preserved. beliefs, wisdom, and concepts of beauty in traditional cultures?
Until recently, the topics of repatriation and ownership, for example, For conservators working with ethnographic objects, issues of
were areas that few conservators considered part of their eld. Thus, ethics and cultural signicance need to be viewed in the context of
using contextual analysis or an externalist view focused outside the the larger controversies of repatriation and cultural diversity aect-
material object itself to determine the signicance of intangible attri- ing indigenous communities and their cultural material. Increas-
butes is taking conservators well beyond traditional conservation ingly, indigenous peoples request that they be involved in the study
practices. To incorporate external viewpoints, collaboration with and interpretations of their culture and history, that their access to
indigenous peoples is necessary. collections in museums be improved, and that repatriation of arti-
It is now more common for major anthropology museums to facts and human remains be implemented without unnecessary
collect, exhibit, and preserve collections through collaboration. delays. Input from indigenous peoples can be part of a conservators
At the Arizona State Museum in Tucson, for instance, conservators contextual researchresearch that includes the intent of the origi-
have been meeting with tribal representatives for several years to nator artist or artisan, the objects conceptual integrity, and the
determine the appropriate procedures for conservation, storage, and objects other nonphysical attributes. However, an inquiry into this

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation 19
 kind of contextual information is not part of the conservators stan-
dard examination or documentation. Although rare, some institu-
tions have adopted specic provisions to address contextual
researcha fact that suggests that including these aspects of context
is slowly becoming a more mainstream professional obligation.
The role of conservation in the relationship between museums
and indigenous peoples is also changing. Indigenous peoples tend to
be minorities in their countries and do not necessarily follow the
dominant cultures ideology of artifact collection, study, and display.
New partnerships and responsibilities are needed to bring these two
constituencies together. Conservators at the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver are among those who have established part-
nerships incorporating community values into the exhibition pro-
cess and programming, as well as through the lending of items for
traditional cultural uses.
As museums of anthropology throughout the United States
have developed or remodeled their exhibition halls to eect
cultural reconciliation, cultural issues have also aected traditional
behind-the-scene activities, including conservation. Some of these
activitiessuch as feeding or blessing objects with smoke, dis-
assembly, or the addition of new materialcontradict the basic
tenets of conservation, and there is a need for guidelines for the
study, treatment, or nontreatment of these collections. In preparing
for the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian
in Washington, .., conservators made advances in this area
through the use of indigenous curators throughout the processes
The Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of the of object selection, interpretation, and preservation. Conservators
American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C. Photo: Courtesy included traditional indigenous methods and materials in the con-
National Museum of the American Indian.
servation treatments and invited indigenous experts to perform
some of the treatments.
A view of the Tohono OOdham community section in the In several parts of the world, indigenous peoples have
Our Peoples: Giving Voice to Our Histories exhibition. As part
of its mission to recognize and afrm the Native communi- increased public awareness on issues of heritage, social problems,
ties of the Americas, NMAI exhibitions and programs are and legal rightsin spite of their long history of extermination,
presented from a Native perspective, which the museum
achieves through consultation and collaboration with tribal assimilation, division, persecution, relocation, and redenition,
communities. Photo: Katherine Fogden (Mohawk), courtesy
National Museum of the American Indian. resulting from contact with industrialized nations. Research and
analysis of the specic impacts of contact on indigenous material
culture have identied the imbalance in knowledge regarding
indigenous art and culture.
Conservation can play an important role in the interdisciplin-
ary study of tangible heritage. While the eld will continue to
research the physical aspects of objects it should also collaborate
with others who can contribute a diverse range of intangible infor-
mation regarding these objects. Understanding the social issues of
traditional technologies is as important as preserving an objects
physical attributes.

Nancy Odegaard is the head of Preservation at the Arizona State Museum, University
of Arizona, in Tucson.

20
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation
Recent
Initiatives in
Technical Art
w
W in an interdisciplinary
context (referred to somewhat controversially as technical art history)
has been going on for centuries, the th century witnessed consid-
erable eortsled by scientists and by scholars (like Edward Forbes
at Harvard)to encourage such studies. Today technical investiga-
tions of works of art bring together art historians, archaeologists,
conservation scientists, conservators, anthropologists, and scholars
from other disciplines to endeavor to understand the materials and

History techniques used in the production of artworks and artifacts. The

purpose is to develop a fuller appreciation of the context and mean-
ing of these works.
By Brian Considine
The extent of interdisciplinary activity in the technical explo-
ration of works of art is reected in the ever-increasing number of
meetings and exhibitions in which art historians, conservators, con-
servation scientists, and other experts jointly participate. Every year
there are conferences such as the upcoming October Revival
and Invention: Sculpture and Its Material Histories, being orga-
nized by the Henry Moore Institute in England and the Universit
Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium (this gathering will explore the com-
plex reference system that has evolved around sculptures materials
and techniques and what they tell us about the changing status of
techniques and practices). Increasingly, museums are including
sections on process and technical study in their exhibitions. In addi-
tion, there are exhibitions that focus primarily on technical study.
For instance, the J. Paul Getty Museum will mount an exhibit in
November exploring the collaboration between art historians
and conservators in the technical study and authentication of a
French Renaissance cabinet. This process involved dendrochro-
nology, radiocarbon dating, and X-ray uorescence spectroscopy
(), in addition to archival research on print sources and prove-
nance and period treatises on techniques.

Advances in Technology

Conservation owes a great deal to the improvements in technology

that have made instruments smaller, more convenient, and less
expensive. There have been substantial advances in instrumentation
in recent years, like the handheld that was developed for the
Mars Pathnder project. Many of these renements were achieved
through the miniaturization of electronics and the rapid growth of
the computational power of personal computers.
Renements have also made it possible to get more out of
GCI senior scientist Dusan Stulik using a handheld XRF device to
analyze the elemental composition of a photograph. Originally established analytical techniquesrenements that increasingly
developed for the Mars Pathnder project, the portable XRF is an
example of the technological improvements advancing the ana- require minimal or no sampling. For example, at the Cornell High
lytical capabilities of conservation. Photo: Dennis Keeley. Energy Synchrotron Source (a high intensity, high energy X-ray
source), scientists working with conservators have developed a con-
focal to obtain compositional depth proles of historic paints.
With this technique, the uorescence signals from dierent paint

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation 21
 Left: A 17th-century cabinet-on-stand from the collection of the
J. Paul Getty Museum. Photo: The J. Paul Getty Museum.
Below: Associate conservator Arlen Heginbotham of the Getty Museum
applies uorescent antibody stains to a cross section sample of paint
from the cabinet. To precisely identify the materials and techniques
used to create the the cabinets original surface, Heginbotham collabo-
rated with staff from the USC Department of Biological Sciences.
Photo: Brian Considine.

Left: Bathsheba Bathing from The Hours of Louis XII, a 16th-century

illuminated manuscript by Jean Bourdichon. Photo: The J. Paul Getty
Museum.
Below: GCI senior scientist Karen Trentelman examining an object using
a Raman microscope. This technique was used to analyze the pigment
palettes and painting methods on three leaves from The Hours of Louis
XII. Photo: Dennis Keeley.

22
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation
layers can be detected separately; the eective resolution of the An example of combining technical analysis with research on
instrument can be as little as ve to ten microns. This is part of primary sources is work Arlen Heginbotham of the Getty Museum
nanotechnologydoing chemistry and physics on an ultrasmall has done with Michael Quick of the University of Southern
scale, with small samples. Californias Department of Biological Sciences to identify binding
The application of Raman spectroscopy to the study of art is media in paint layers from a th-century cabinet-on-stand. Dr.
another relatively new development that allows for the nondestruc- Quick introduced Heginbotham to immunouorescence microscopy
tive identication of pigments and the examination, on a micro- (identication of proteins through antibodies), which, along with
scopic scale, of corrosion products. Nancy Turner of the Getty scanning electron microscopy () and other techniques, allowed
Museum and Karen Trentelman of the Museum Research Labo- for the precise identication of the materials and techniques used to
ratory have been investigating the pigment palettes and painting create the original surface. Study of dozens of European
techniques of manuscript illuminators. Using , Raman spectros- manuscripts conrmed that the analytical ndings were in accord
copy, and infrared reectography () on three leaves from the with late th-century practice.
devotional book The Hours of Louis XII, one recent project identi-
ed pigments and characterized the manuscript painting techniques Research Resources
of Jean Bourdichon, a French illuminator working in Tours in
around . There is a distinguished tradition of periodicals in a variety of lan-
New technology is also being turned to the investigation of guages devoted to technical art history. These include Zeitschrift fr
photographs. The is working with the Image Permanence Insti- Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung, The Journal of Cultural Heri-
tute in Rochester, New York, and the Centre de Recherche sur la tage, and Techn. An impressive new addition is Art Matters, Nether-
Conservation des Documents Graphiques in Paris to use quantita- lands Technical Studies in Art, dedicated to publishing interdisciplin-
tive and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy () to ary studies whereby conservators, conservation scientists, and art
advance the identication of photographs and photographic pro- historians cooperate to create a deeper understanding of the making
cesses. The aim of the project is to identify the analytical signatures of works of art. An editorial in volume stated, Art Matters wants
of dierent photographic processes so that conservators will be able to stimulate interdisciplinary cooperation and the development of
to identify some processes that currently cannot be identied with new methodologies within the eld of technical studies in art. Tech-
optical microscopes. nologische Studienpublished by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in
New methods are enabling scientists to answer questions Vienna, with articles on a wide variety of artworksis another
that have long eluded solution. For example, at the Rathgen- recent and signicant addition to the bibliography of technical stud-
Forschungslabor Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Christian ies of art.
Goedicke is using optically stimulated luminescence to date unred Monographic studies are also making important contributions
materials such as mortars. The luminescence in the quartz of the to the literature. Forthcoming titles include Jane Bassetts Adriaen
mortar is zeroed out during the transportation of gravel from the de Vries: A Technical Study, and Coatings on Photographsa publi-
pit to the construction sitea fact that makes dating by dosimetry cation eort of the Photographic Materials Group of the American
possible. The techniqueused recently to date the Ingelheim Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works ()
residence of Charlemagne to the year can also be applied to which chronicles the historic uses of coatings on photographs, from
some stuccos and plasters. early processes, like daguerreotypes and albumen prints, through
New insights into artists materials and techniques frequently modern processes, like Polaroid.
come from comparisons between analytical results and period trea- In a relatively short period of time, the Internet has made
tises on recipes or techniques and reconstructions. In October , available signicant resources for the interdisciplinary study of
the international Art Technological Source Research study group artworks. Conservation OnLine (palimpsest.stanford.edu), initiated
whose main objective is to professionalize research into art techno- in as a project of the Preservation Department of Stanford
logical sourcesmet at the Instituut Collectie Nederland () in University Libraries, covers a broad spectrum of conservation topics
Amsterdam to discuss the role of source research and the use of and contains numerous links to conservation resources at other sites.
reconstructions in art technological research. With an interest in the In June , the s launch of Online (www.aata.getty.edu)
materials, tools, machines, sites, and techniques used in making turned what had been a book publication into a free and searchable
objects, the group focuses on research with sources that include the database, which today contains more than , abstracts of inter-
object itself, information given directly or indirectly by the artist or national conservation literature. There are also Web sites focused on
artisan, and other primary, documentary information. specic topics. The International Network for the Conservation of

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation 23
 postdoctoral fellowships, equipment, and collaborative research
projects. Additionally, the foundation has established three incre-
mental professorships specically for scientists at the three major
conservation training programs in the United States: Bualo State
College, in Bualo, New York; the Institute of Fine Arts at New
York University; and the University of Delaware, in Newark, Dela-
ware. These positions will strengthen the curricula at these institu-
tions, where there is already a rm commitment to technical study.
At Delaware, for instance, the second-semester technical study
projectdesigned to provide familiarity and experience with bench-
top, instrumental, and analytical methodsis matched with parallel
studies in the humanities, emphasizing an interdisciplinary
approach.
Another initiative to foster interdisciplinary study is the
Kress Paired Fellowships for Research in Conservation and the His-
The title page from Des Principes de larchitecture, de la sculpture, tory of Art and Archaeology at the Center for Advanced Study in the
de la peinture, et des autres arts qui en dpendent: Avec un diction-
naire des termes propres chacun de ces arts, by Andr Flibien, Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, .. With
published in 1697. By comparing current analytical results with funding from the Samuel H. Kress and the Getty foundations, an art
period treatises such as this late 17th-century work, conservators
can acquire new insights into artists materials and techniques. historian and a conservator receive support for two months of eld
Photo: Courtesy Special Collections, Research Library at the Getty
Research Institute. research and two months of collaboration in residence. Currently,
Ann Boulton, a conservator from the Baltimore Museum of Art, is
Contemporary Art ()a group of international modern art working with art historian Oliver Shell to examine Henri Matisses
museums and related institutions formally established in casting practices to clarify the signicance of his technical choices
is focused on building a Web site (www.incca.org) with underlying and to integrate this information into the larger context of the intel-
databases designed to facilitate the exchange of professional knowl- lectual, economic, and social conditions in which Matisse worked.
edge and information. partners also engage in eorts to gather The Getty Foundation made another contribution to the eld
information directly from artists. by requiring that collections cataloguing projects receiving Getty
In the United States, similar eorts are under way at the grants include technical study. The forthcoming catalogue of French
Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art at Harvard, under art at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gar-
the leadership of Carol Mancusi-Ungaro. Her goal is to assemble dens, for example, has assembled a team of specialist art historians
an archive of documents, including interviews with and records of and conservators for a broad interdisciplinary study of the objects in
artists, conservators, and suppliers, as well as technical literature. the collection. And the Getty Foundations museum conservation
She is working at the Whitney Museum with conservator Pia treatment grants specically emphasize projects designed to stimu-
Gottschaller, who is building on her research on Max Beckmanns late interdisciplinary art-historical and scientic research.
painting techniques and materials to determine if the examination Advances in analytical capabilities make possible exciting new
tools typically employed on old masters paintings are useful to the avenues for understanding works of art, artifacts, and, most impor-
study of modern art. tant, the cultures that produced them. Through collaborative proj-
ects with colleagues in the humanities and the sciences, conservators
The Role of Grant Makers are developing new interpretations and meanings for artworks and
cultural artifacts. The increasing sophistication of technical studies
In the last four years, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through is making a dierence in our understanding, appreciation, and con-
the dedicated eorts of its program ocer, Angelica Zander Ruden- servation of objects, collections, and the built heritage. Our chal-
stine, has made major investments to strengthen science in conser- lenge is to strengthen our interdisciplinary approach so that we can
vation and thereby strengthen the collaboration among conservation work in true collaborationrather than publishing separate and
scientists, conservators, and curators. The Mellon Foundation has, independent researches between the covers of the same book.
for example, endowed conservation scientist positions at the Metro-
politan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Brian Considine is conservator of decorative arts and sculpture at the J. Paul Getty
Museum.
and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It has also funded

24
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 News in Conservation
 New Projects

GCINews
Iraq Training Initiative

Last fall, the Iraq Cultural Heritage Con- Training in archeological site typology and feature
description led by Dr. Zeidan Kafa of Yarmouk Univer-
servation Initiative of the Getty Conserva- sity at the Temple of Hercules at the Amman Citadel,
tion Institute and the World Monuments Jordan. Photo: Mario Santana Quintero.

Fund () completed its rst training

course in the compilation of site data and
the inventory and rapid assessment of
archaeological and historic sites.
The course, attended by employees
of the State Board of Antiquities and Heri-
tage () of Iraq, was held in Amman,
Jordan, November December , .
Fieldwork was conducted at the Amman
Citadel, the Umm er-Rasas World Heritage
Site, and at other historic and archaeological
sites in the Amman area, thanks to the gen- will organize courses aimed at providing
erous assistance of the Department of sta with tools to respond to the chal-
Antiquities of Jordan. In the face of the con- lenging task of protecting and managing
tinued looting of Iraqi archaeological sites, tens of thousands of sites and historic mon-
the training focused on techniques, meth- uments in Iraq.
odologies, and tools for accurately locating The course was supported by a
sites and recording their condition, and on grant and donation of technical
developing a national computer-based equipment, including computerized survey
inventory of sites. equipment, Global Positioning System
The course, which was conducted in () units, and laser distance meters. In
modules, trained participants in their areas addition to teaching sta, the and
of expertise, and in developing a team contributed digital cameras and other tech-
approach. It also encouraged the integration nical equipment and software. Further par-
of site recording, documentation, and ticipation and support were provided by
assessment. At the end of the course, par- English Heritage, the U.S. National Park
ticipants began verifying their work with Service, and numerous Jordanian and inter-
information in the archive, and they national experts, some of Iraqi origin.
planned future work in the inventory and The - Iraq Cultural Heritage
assessment of site conditions. This work Conservation Initiative aims to address the
will form the prototype for the catastrophic damage sustained by Iraqs cul-
national site inventory database. tural heritage during and in the aftermath of
In conjunction with further develop- the war.
ment of the national database and of a site
inventory methodology, the and

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 GCI News 25
CIN Partnership Renewed GCI Appointed to U.S. Harley J. McKee Award
UNESCO Commission

In September , at a board meeting held The has been appointed by the U.S. sec- Last November, Jeanne Marie Teutonico,
in Gatineau, Quebec, the members of the retary of state to serve on the U.S. National associate director for programs at the ,
Conservation Information Network () Commission for . Timothy Whalen, received the Harley J. McKee Award
renewed their partnership, which was origi- director of the , will serve as the Insti- from the Association for Preservation
nally established in . tutes representative. Technology International (). The award,
The networkwhich facilitates the The National Commission will func- the highest honor bestowed by , recog-
retrieval and exchange of information con- tion as a Federal Advisory Committee, pro- nizes outstanding contributions to the
cerning the conservation and restoration of viding assistance to the U.S. government on eld of preservation technology. The award
cultural propertyincludes six organiza- matters relating to . It will also func- is named for Harley James McKee, ,
tions: the , the Canadian Conservation tion as a liaison with organizations, institu- a preservationist, architect, author, and
Institute, the Canadian Heritage Informa- tions, and individuals in the United States professor whose -year teaching career
tion Network, (International Centre interested in the work of . beneted generations of students at ve
for the Study of the Preservation and Resto- The commission is composed of rep- universities.
ration of Cultural Property), the Interna- resentatives from nongovernmental organi- In presenting Teutonico with
tional Council on Monuments and Sites, zations; outstanding persons selected by the this award, cited her numerous
and the Smithsonian Center for Materials secretary of state, including individuals contributions to the eld of architectural
Research and Education. holding federal oce; representatives from preservation through her professional col-
For nearly years, has provided the educational, scientic, and cultural laborations, strategic research, and scholarly
the conservation community with invalu- interests of state and local governments; and dissemination.
able access to research resources through its persons at large. It will conduct most of its The Association for Preservation
Bibliographic Database of the Conservation work through committees, formulated along Technology International is a cross-
Information Network (). The s operating structure: education, disciplinary organization dedicated to pro-
database contains over two hundred thou- culture, communications, and science. The moting the best technology for conserving
sand bibliographic citations from Art and is a member of the Culture Committee. historic structures and their settings.
Archaeology Technical Abstracts (prior to Formed in , promotes
), technical reports, conference pro- international cooperation among its mem-
ceedings, journal articles, books, and audio- ber states and associate members. The com-
visual and unpublished materials. missions form a vital link between civil soci-
The database, a free online ser- ety and the organization; provide valuable
vice, can be accessed at www.bcin.ca . insight concerning the organizations pro-
gram; and help implement many initiatives,
including training programs, studies, public
awareness campaigns, and media outreach.

26
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 GCI News
 Upcoming Events
The Getty Foundation New GCI Postdoctoral
Fellowship

To mark the milestone of years of Getty The is pleased to announce a new two- Postdoctoral Fellowship in
philanthropy, the Getty Grant Program has year postdoctoral fellowship in conservation Conservation Science
changed its name to the Getty Foundation. science. The fellowship, which will support The Getty Conservation Institute
Getty Center Drive, Suite
The change reects the expanded scope of a specic project of the Institute, provides
Los Angeles, -
the Gettys grant making over the past two an annual stipend of $,, round-trip
decades, as well as its continuing commit- airfare to Los Angeles, housing in the Getty For further information, please contact
ment to philanthropy. scholar complex, and health benets. One the Getty Conservation Institute at
Since , the Foundation has fellow will be selected for each two-year [email protected] (inquiries only).
awarded approximately $ million to over period. The application deadline for the
, projects in more than countries, to fellowship is May , .
increase the understanding and preserva- The postdoctoral fellow
tion of the visual arts. Support for conserva- will work in the analytical research section
tion projects represents more than one- of the s Science department, focusing
third of this total. on the application of mass spectrometry
Conservation grants are international, to the characterization of materials from
and they support projects related to both modern paintingschiey polymeric
works of art and architecture. They include binding media and synthetic organic pig-
the survey and treatment of works of art in ments. In addition, the fellow will investi-
museum collections, with particular gate the nature and composition of stains
emphasis on projects that include interdisci- and discolorations on cotton canvases,
plinary research. Grants also fund the con- a primary concern in the conservation
servation of historic buildingsparticularly of Color-eld paintings.
the crucial project planning stages. Addi- Experience with a double focusing,
tional support is provided for training and magnetic sector mass spectrometer is
educational projects designed for both pro- valuable, as is practical knowledge and
fessional conservators and the wider public. experience in liquid chromatography/mass
Periodically, special initiatives are devel- spectrometry.
oped, such as the recent Campus Heritage The fellow is expected to be in resi-
Grants in the United States. dence at the for the entire two-year
For more information about the Foun- period. Applications will be accepted by
dations activities, please visit the Gettys mail only. To apply, please submit a letter of
Web site at www.getty.edu . interest, with a statement of qualications
and curriculum vitae to:

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 GCI News 27
Call for Proposals for acterization, manufacture, stability, and ICCM Conference
innovative use of modern paints; analytical
Modern Paints Symposium techniques for identifying their compo-
nents; novel and practical methods for con-
serving modern painted surfaces; and the
evaluation of the methods and techniques
used for treating and cleaning them.
Proposal abstracts should be double-
spaced, English-language, Word docu-
ments of words or less and formatted
in -point Times New Roman font with
-inch (. cm) margins. All submissions
should include presentation/poster title,
Proposals are now being accepted for author name(s), professional aliation, The International Committee for the
Modern Paints Uncovered, a symposium mailing address, e-mail address, telephone, Conservation of Mosaics () will hold its
on modern paint media to be held May fax, and a short, one-paragraph biography. ninth triennial conference November
, , in London. Coorganized by the Abstracts should be sent via e-mail to December , , in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Getty Conservation Institute, the National @tate.org.uk . The deadline for sub- The conferenceentitled Lessons
Gallery of Art in Washington, .., and mission is September , . Learned: Reecting on the Theory and
Tate in London, this symposium will draw Applicants will be notied of accep- Practice of Mosaic Conservationis being
together the varied strands of research tance by November , . The technical coorganized by the Getty Conservation
currently being conducted by conservation committee reserves the right to make the Institute and the Institut National du
scientists and conservators on modern paint nal determination of whether the proposal Patrimoine of Tunisia.
materials. is an oral presentation or poster. Successful Aimed at professionals in the conser-
Applicants may submit proposals for proposals will include one complimentary vation of ancient mosaics, as well as at art
either a -minute oral presentation or a registration. For further information, historians and archaeologists of the Roman
poster presentation addressing the conser- please visit the Getty Web site at www.getty. world, the conference will have a particular
vation concerns and challenges of modern edu/conservation/science/modpaints/ focus on conservation issues in the Arab
paint media. Topics might include the char- mpu.html . world, a region rich in Roman mosaics.
The conference will encompass all

Right: The Roman basilica at the site of

Leptis Magna in Libya. Photo: Martha Demas.

Below: Detail from a mosaic at the Villa

Silene in Libya. Photo: Martha Demas.

28
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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 GCI News
 Publications
aspects of mosaic conservationtraining;
Alkoxysilanes and the
in situ conservation; interventions such as
sheltering, treatments, reburial, and lifting
Consolidation of Stone
and relaying; documentation; presentation; By George Wheeler
maintenance; and site management. The
four-day program will include over
papers and posters that reect on theory,
practice, and decision-making processes,
and how these have evolved over the last
years. Case studieswhich examine ratio-
nale, discuss the methodology or evaluation
results of past projects, or illustrate how
future evaluation is incorporated into proj-
ect planningwill also be presented. following topics: the chemistry and physics
The ocial conference languages are of alkoxysilanes and their gels; the inuence
French and English. An Arabic translation of stone type; commercial and noncommer-
of the abstracts will be made available by cial formulations; practice; lab and eld
. Tours of Tunisian mosaic sites will evaluation of service life; and recent
be included in the conference program. A developments.
postconference tour will be oered to sites Designed for conservators, scientists,
and museums with mosaics in and around and preservation architects in the eld of
Tripoli, Libya. The complete conference stone conservation, this book will also serve
announcement is available on the Getty as an indispensable introduction to the sub-
Web site at www.getty.edu/conservation . ject for students of art conservation and his-
Formed in under the auspices of toric preservation.
, the is the only international George Wheeler is director of Conser-
organization devoted to mosaic conserva- vation Research in the Historic Preservation
tion. Its triennial conference provides the Department at Columbia University and a
principal forum for professionals in this Research Scientist at the Metropolitan
eld of conservation, and the published pro- Stone is one of the oldest building materials, Museum of Art, New York.
ceedings are an essential source of informa- and its conservation ranks as one of the most
160 pages, 8 12 x 11 inches
tion about mosaic conservation. challenging in the eld. The use of alkoxy-
45 b/w illustrations, 26 graphs, 7 tables
For further information, silanes in stone conservation can be traced
ISBN 0-89236-815-2, paper, USD $40.00
please contact: back to , when A. W. von Homan sug-
gested them for the deteriorating limestone
Demetrios Michaelides
on the Houses of Parliament in London.
[email protected] Alkoxysilane-based formulations have since
become the material of choice for the con-
Kathleen Louw solidation of stone outdoors.
The Getty Conservation Institute
This volume, the rst to comprehen-
[email protected]
sively cover alkoxysilanes in stone consoli-
dation, synthesizes the subjects vast and
extensive literature, which ranges from pro-
duction of alkoxysilanes in the th century
to the extensive contributions from sol-gel
science in the s and s. Included
are a historical overview, an annotated
bibliography, and discussions of the

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Conservation, The GCI Newsletter Volume 20, Number 1 2005 GCI News 29
Feature 4 From Connoisseurship
to Technical Art History
The Evolution of the Inter-
disciplinary Study of Art
By Maryan W. Ainsworth

Dialogue 11 A Matter of Teamwork

A Discussion about Technical
Studies and Art History

News in 17 Changing the Way Professionals

Conservation Work
Collaboration in the Preservation
of Ethnographic and Archaeological
Objects
By Nancy Odegaard

21 Recent Initiatives in Technical Art

History
By Brian Considine

GCI News 25 Projects, Events, and Publications

The Getty Conservation Institute