from GCI - Conservation Newsletter -
Volume 22, Spring 2007: Environmental Management
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download PDF (4.6 MB)

from Tate Research Papers -
"Historically Accurate Reconstructions of Artists’ Oil Painting Materials"
by Leslie Carlyle and Maartjee Witlox
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A few interesting articles updated recently. From the Getty Conservation Newsletter, a whole issue dedicated to the idea of passive environmental control, all the more relevant in the context of today's increasing concerns with sustainability and depletion of natural resources. In the Tate Research Papers, an article which discusses the relevance of material and scientific analysis in the context of art historical research.
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from Royal Microscopical Society -
InFocus
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There are a few articles, available on-line, related to the examination and technical analysis of paint / pigment samples from the newsletter of the RMS.

Issue 1, March 2006

"Forensics and Microscopy in Authenticating Works of Art"
Peter Paul Biro
go to PDF article, 930kB

"Microscopical techniques applied to traditional paintings"
Joyce H Townsend and Katrien Keune
go to PDF article, 1.6MB

"Scientific dating of paintings"
Nicholas Eastaugh
go to PDF article, 1.1MB


Issue 2, June 2006

"'Not a day without a line drawn': Pigments and painting techniques of Roman Artists"
Ruth Siddall
go to PDF article, 1.2MB

"Historical pigment research: the work of the Pigmentum Project"
Valentine Walsh & Nicholas Eastaugh
go to PDF article, 1.4MB


Issue 3, September 2006

"Microscopy and archival research: interpreting results within the context of historical records and traditional practice"
Jane Davies
go to PDF article, 340kB
go to supplement, 35kB

"Advanced microscopic techniques for the characterisation of pigments"
Robin Clark & Tracey Chaplin
go to PDF article, 423kB


Issue 4, December 2006

"18th Century church altarpieces in the Algarve, Portugal: A comparison of the historical documents to the results of the microscopical analysis"
Isabel Pombo Cardoso
go to PDF article, 1.9MB

from North Carolina Museum of Art
Revolution in Paint
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In conjunction with an exhibition of paintings by Monet, the North Carolina Museum of Art has put together a concurrent exhibition - Revolution in Paint - which attempts to map the break with traditional academy-style painting at the end of the 19th-century onto contemporaneous developments in pigment and paint technology. Quoting from the exhibition guide:

"Revolution is based on a simple premise: A radical change in artist’s pigments during the 19th century enabled a revolution in painting. The exhibition explores the innovations of the impressionists—with special emphasis on their choice of pigments—as well the academic traditions against which the impressionist rebelled."

What may be of interest is that the exhibition is curated by Perry Hurt, who is a conservator at the museum. Links here to the online exhibition supplement (warning : PDF, 12MB) and a short news article write-up (The News & Observer)

[ Thanks to the Conservation DistList for the prior alert. ]

from New York Times
New Look at '‘Mona Lisa'’ Yields Some New Secrets
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from The Guardian
High-res 3D scan helps scientists uncover Mona Lisa's secrets
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A couple of overlapping articles looking at the technical examination of the famed masterpiece, using infra-red imaging to look at alterations, as well as laser scanner to record minute paint surface topology.

from Chemical and Engineering News
Incredible Colors
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Another article on the analysis of the use of unusual materials in the oil paintings of the 16th-century Venetian School which explained the characteristic glow and luminosity of these paintings (also see previous post here).

from Conservation, GCI Newsletter
Technical Art History
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PDF version

The latest newsletter from the Getty Conservation Institute is featuring the emerging cross-disciplinary field of technical art history.

from Science News online
Venetian Grinds: The secret behind Italian Renaissance painters' brilliant palettes
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The discovery of an ancient inventory from a Venetian seller of artist's pigments throws new light on the palette of Italian Renaissance painters and address the question that has always baffled conservation scientists. How did Venetian Renaissance painters create the strong, clear, and bright colors that make objects and figures in their paintings appear to glow?

Prompted by this inventory lead, a re-examination of Venetian paintings yielded an answer -- glass. Artists such as Lorenzo Lotto and Tintoretto used it extensively in their paintings. Not only did the artists use glass to fill gaps in their palettes, but the materials' optical effects—intentionally or not—also brought their paintings to life in unprecedented ways. The article then proceeds to highlight the aesthetic and material significance this finding yields for the field of conservation.

Something about blue...

Just want to share a wee juicy bit of information from Victoria Finlay's book "Colour" about the Ultramarine blue pigment which is derived from the semi-precious stone Lapis Lazuli.

"Lapis Lazuli is a complex clump of minerals, including hauyne, sodalite, nosean and lazurite. In the best grades there is more sulphur, the yellow element curiously making the stone more violet, and in the worst grades there is more calcium carbonate, turning it grey.

Ultramarine blue used to be a very expensive blue pigment in Europe. During the Italian Renaissance, it was touted as the only blue good enough to paint the Virgin Mary's robe. This pigment originate from Chile, Zambia, Siberia and Afghanistan. The synthetic version of it was found in France by a chemist in 1828, henceforth the name "French ultramarine".

Finlay in her book found out from her Afghanistan guide that there are three main colours for grade one lapis lazuli.

"The most common is rang-i-ob which simply means 'colour of water' and is a general word for blue. This stone is the darkest, the shade that sea goes when there is nothing but deep sea beneath it...The second is rang-i-sabz or green...they looked as if shreds of bright lettuce had got caught in the teeth of the blue...But the greatest of the three is the extraordinarily named surpar or 'red feather'. It was puzzling and beautiful that the best blue should be described as red. It was an ex-miner who gave the most poetic explanation. 'It is the colour of the deepest moment of the fire..the very heart of the flame.'

The history of colours is a beautiful story that excites the mind and fires up the imagination. I wonder whether I'll approach my paintbox the same way again after reading these 'stories'...

from Paints and Coating Industry
A History of Pigment Use in Western Art
go to Part 1 and Part 2

A very readable account of the development of painting techniques and pigments over the centuries, beginning with prehistoric art up till the late 20th century, using the European context as a focus point.

from
Artist from Meleka
http://www.charlescham.com/
An artist I came across during my trip in Melaka, he runs a shop/studio selling hand painted T-shirts and his work of art. I believe he is more well known as the orangutan painting! Happy viewing of his website featuring his painting.