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Home to the skylark - The Velux Foundations

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Jørgen Wadum (born 1951), MSc, PhD<br />

in fine art conservation. Chief Conserva-<br />

<strong>to</strong>r at Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis,<br />

<strong>The</strong> Hague, <strong>the</strong> Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands 1990; Keeper<br />

of Conservation, National Gallery of Den-<br />

mark 2005. Has specialised in scientific art<br />

his<strong>to</strong>ry, notably from <strong>the</strong> Dutch Golden Age,<br />

with a specific focus on <strong>the</strong> painting tech-<br />

niques of Rembrandt, Dou and Vermeer.<br />

Exploring<br />

<strong>the</strong> science<br />

of art his<strong>to</strong>ry<br />

Science moves in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

National Gallery of Denmark<br />

BY JØRGEN WADUM<br />

In 2011 <strong>the</strong> VILLUM FOUNDATION and <strong>the</strong> VE-<br />

LUX FOUNDATION donated DKK 20,000,000 for<br />

<strong>the</strong> establishment of <strong>the</strong> Centre for Art Technologi-<br />

cal Studies and Conservation (CATS). <strong>The</strong> centre is<br />

unique in being a joint undertaking between <strong>the</strong> Na-<br />

tional Gallery of Denmark, <strong>the</strong> National Museum of<br />

Denmark and <strong>the</strong> Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,<br />

Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation.<br />

As indicated by <strong>the</strong> name, <strong>the</strong> centre will be devoted<br />

<strong>to</strong> technology-based studies of art and art conserva-<br />

tion in which conserva<strong>to</strong>rs, scientists, art and cultural<br />

his<strong>to</strong>rians engage in multidisciplinary research in <strong>the</strong><br />

painting techniques and media employed in <strong>the</strong> crea-<br />

tion of works of art. Decoding <strong>the</strong> artistic processes<br />

will provide new and surprising art his<strong>to</strong>ry revelations<br />

for our public. But above all, CATS will improve our<br />

ability <strong>to</strong> determine <strong>the</strong> diverse and often complex<br />

ageing processes that affect <strong>the</strong> visual arts. <strong>The</strong> aim is<br />

<strong>to</strong> develop new and more precise methods for diagnos-<br />

ing, handling and conserving our visual art heritage.<br />

How costly were <strong>the</strong> robes of <strong>the</strong> Apostles?<br />

From Afghanistan <strong>to</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Europe – via Venice. In<br />

<strong>the</strong> 16th-17th centuries, transport along <strong>the</strong> trade routes<br />

from Central Asia was so time-consuming and trouble-<br />

some that <strong>the</strong> price of ultramarine, a natural blue pigment<br />

derived from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious s<strong>to</strong>ne, exceeded<br />

that of gold by <strong>the</strong> time it reached its final destination: <strong>the</strong><br />

Nor<strong>the</strong>rn European apo<strong>the</strong>cary shops, where many artists<br />

purchased <strong>the</strong> pigment for <strong>the</strong>ir paints. Since <strong>the</strong> Middle<br />

Ages, natural ultramarine had been used <strong>to</strong> paint <strong>the</strong> blue<br />

capes on <strong>the</strong> most notable Biblical figures, although its cost<br />

was beyond <strong>the</strong> means of many artists. Instead, <strong>the</strong>y had <strong>to</strong><br />

make do with cheaper blue pigments such as azurite and<br />

crushed glass containing cobalt, called smalt.<br />

Studies of <strong>the</strong> layers of pigment and o<strong>the</strong>r media in paint-<br />

ings give us fascinating insights in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> past, while sources<br />

of information about trade routes, artists’ media and tech-<br />

niques are vital in <strong>the</strong> techno-his<strong>to</strong>rical studies undertak-<br />

en by conserva<strong>to</strong>rs. Exploring <strong>the</strong> material attributes of a<br />

work of art, allied with art his<strong>to</strong>ry, allows us <strong>to</strong> piece <strong>to</strong>-<br />

ge<strong>the</strong>r new insights in<strong>to</strong> a given work; with <strong>the</strong> odd as-<br />

<strong>to</strong>nishing revelation along <strong>the</strong> way, as was <strong>the</strong> case with<br />

<strong>the</strong> pioneering international research collaboration on <strong>the</strong><br />

Rembrandt paintings at <strong>the</strong> National Gallery of Denmark<br />

in 2006 before CATS was established. Besides <strong>the</strong> many<br />

valuable discoveries that emerged from exhaustive analysis<br />

of <strong>the</strong> paintings, which are variably claimed <strong>to</strong> be <strong>the</strong> work<br />

of Rembrandt, one of <strong>the</strong> conclusions of <strong>the</strong> research was<br />

that two of <strong>the</strong> works are indubitably attributable <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Dutch master.<br />

Can a dead artist paint a picture?<br />

<strong>The</strong> extraordinary imagery teaming with people and activ-<br />

ity in <strong>the</strong> Bosch-Bruegel project’s painting at <strong>the</strong> National<br />

Gallery is matched by <strong>the</strong> complexity surrounding its con-<br />

servation, as revealed by technical conservation and art his-<br />

<strong>to</strong>ry studies. Investigation of <strong>the</strong> narratives in <strong>the</strong> work is<br />

undertaken at several levels in this project, which under <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>The</strong> detail shows a blue robe and white undergarment<br />

from a 15th-century painting of “Madonna<br />

with Child”. <strong>The</strong> blue colour is painted<br />

using <strong>the</strong> semi-precious s<strong>to</strong>ne lapis lazuli, also<br />

known as natural ultramarine. Pho<strong>to</strong>: Troels<br />

Filtenborg<br />

This cross-section of <strong>the</strong> paint layer shows<br />

that <strong>the</strong> 15th century artist made do by painting<br />

only <strong>the</strong> uppermost, darker blue layer in<br />

<strong>the</strong> costly lapis lazuli. Heavy underpainting using<br />

<strong>the</strong> less costly blue pigment called azurite,<br />

which is seen as paler-coloured blue blocks under<br />

<strong>the</strong> dark blue, was an economical means<br />

of achieving a convincing deep blue effect.<br />

Pho<strong>to</strong>: Troels Filtenborg<br />

112 EXPLORING THE SCIENCE OF ART HISTORY VILLUM FOUNDATION AND VELUX FOUNDATION 113<br />

CULTURE

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