Historical Painting Techniques, Material And Studio Practice

Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, the twenty-five papers in this volume report recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Chapters detail the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, with references to such historical sources as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. The contributors discuss the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan tankas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs of works from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century illustrate many of the essays. The contributors, representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world, prepared these papers for an international symposium designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators. Arie Wallert is a research scientist with the Getty Conservation Institute; Erma Hermens is a research scientist with the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden; and Marja F. J. Peek is head of the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory in Amsterdam. Edited by Arie Wallert, Erma Hermens, and Marja F.J. Peek. 238 pages, paperback