e-conservation

the online magazine no. 24, autumn 2012

index

EDITORIAL NEWS & VIEWS

5 Viral Conservation
By Rui Bordalo

6 Profound sounds: an accidental pilgrimage with John Cage

By Daniel Cull

9 The Renaissance Workshop: The Materials and Techniques

of Renaissance Art Reviewed by Helen Glanville

15 Polychrome Sculpture: Artistic Tradition and Construction

Techniques Reviewed by Ana Bidarra

19 Connecting to Conservation: Outreach and Advocacy

Reviewed by Rose Cull

22 Copying, Replicating & Emulating Paintings in the

15th-18th Century Reviewed by Sue Ann Chui

27 French Bronzes: History, Material and Techniques of Bronze

Sculpture in France (16th-18th C.) Reviewed by Carol Grissom

33 Conservation Matters in Wales

Reviewed by Rachel Robbins

37 CMA4CH 2012: Use of Multivariate Analysis and Chemometrics

in Cultural Heritage and Environment Reviewed by Luciano DAlessio and Pierina Ielpo

INTERVIEW METHODOLOGY

41 International Conservation Workshop Lopud:

Student Perspectives By Sagita Mirjam Sunara

50 British Carlo Maratta Picture Frame: Technical Examination

and Restoration Process By Damian Lizun

60 Study and Conservation of the Painting "Paul III and Ranzio

Farnese" by Parmigianino By Fatma Helmi, Osama El-Feky and Yasmeen Alam Eldin

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SCIENCE CASE STUDY

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A Comparative Study of the Use of Aquazol in Paintings Conservation By Elisabetta Bosetti A Flexible Crossbar System for a 19th Century Panel Painting By Angeliki Bakalarou and Charis Theodorakopoulos Study and Conservation of the City Center of Shahr-e Ray, Iran By Vahid Heidary 3D Documentation Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning of the Remains of the Jesuit Mission in the Region of Lake Tana, Ethiopia By Christian Dietz, Gianluca Catanzariti, Pablo de la Presa, Vctor M. Fernndez and Alfredo Jimeno Martnez Between Tradition and Innovation: 3D Documentation of Ennas Monuments By Antonella Versaci and Alessio Cardaci Brushes for Retouching: How to Choose Them By Ana Bailo and Sandra usti The Use and Influence of Varnish on Paintings By Marc Maire Preventive Conservation of the Bark Cloth Collection of The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum By Kate Stanway Preventive Conservation: a Key Method to Ensure Cultural Heritages Authenticity and Integrity in Preservation Process By Heidi Wirilander The Concept of Cultural Heritage Preservation By Ali Miri The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation, 2nd Edition By Rose Cull Materials, Technologies, Practice in Historic Heritage Structures By Mirela Anghelache

88 95

DOCUMENTATION

106

126

THEORY

136 148

PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION

154

164

177

B OOK REVIEWS

183

185

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Viral Conservation By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. Oscar Wilde Recently, the world participated in a media phenomenon that occurred for the first time ever in Conservation. In Spain, an old woman tried to restore a XIX century portrait of Christ with unforeseeable disastrous consequences. To the general public, the most obvious outcome was the resulting portrait, which is frequently compared to something out of Planet of the Apes or to Jim Hensons Muppet Fozzie Bear. The news went viral worldwide in the media, not only online but also in both television and the press, making the event even more sensational, focusing attention to the well-intentioned but often horrendous amateur restorations. Never, I believe, has a single news item about conservation travelled so fast and so much, or had such an impact and response as this one. Despite the terrible result, Im glad that the event went public and had such fabulous exposure. To say the least, it may help prevent other well-intentioned people to act; at most, it brought to the attention of the general public our profession, which is often ignored or overlooked. However, it brought again to my attention the media boycott that art conservation usually has. Except for high profile events, such as a fire or an intervention on a Van Gogh painting, we rarely hear news about conservation. I dont say this lightly because Ive seen too many times, for example, the name of our profession misspelled in different languages, revealing the total ignorance of many journalists and of the general public on conservation issues. In order to keep the public informed, the media could easily provide stories that would help sensitise the public, thus helping to avoid future actions of ignorance or vandalism. In the recent years there have been many initiatives of institutions that wish to show to the public what conservation really is and how it is done. Exhibitions or behind-the-scenes sneak peeks often take place in museums but these initiatives are usually limited to a local or national level at their best. None of these could possibly have had the exposure in international press that the Spanish matter did. But now, on the aftermath of this news, many journalists have started to search for similar cases, both locally and nationally, riding on the current momentum. One of them, for example, occurred 30 years ago in Portugal, however only now came to my attention when it made the national headlines. Why did this dreadful restoration of a 300 year-old mural painting have no international or national exposure, despite its very colourful results? How many other hundreds of untold cases still exist out there, I wonder? This news-gone-viral is a perfect example that illustrates how we should use the mass media to the advantage of conservation, art and cultural heritage. Our work does not only entail conserving artworks closed in a laboratory, but also showing people why they should care about conservation, why it is important and, frankly, that vandalism is not limited to big city graffiti. It should be, perhaps, one of the objectives of our associations across the world to invite the media to participate in projects that inform the public. But it almost seems that conservators tend to avoid the media, seeing it perhaps as a necessary evil and not as a useful tool, indeed as very separate worlds. Could it perhaps be that uncomfortable feeling of having to keep up to date with technology and internet advances? Cultural marketing is a very important and powerful tool. The opportunity is there, so lets use it to our maximum advantage. Rui Bordalo Editor-in-Chief
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news & view

PROFOUND SOUNDS: AN ACCIDENTAL PILGRIMAGE WITH JOHN CAGE

By Daniel Cull

On August 29, 1952, the pianist David Tudor premiered the composer John Cages piece 433 (read as Four minutes, thirty-three seconds); the performance challenged the very definition of music. Sixty years later on September 5, 2012, to mark the centennial of Cages birth I took part in a performance of this masterpiece [1]. The piece consists of three movements arranged for any instrument, or combination of instruments, and the score simply instructs the performer/s not to play their instruments during its entirety. The composition has been described as sonic zazen [2] the content of which is not silence, as is sometimes assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during the performance. Amongst his influences, Cage cites Robert Rauschenbergs 1951 white paintings, but his developing interest in Eastern religion and particularly Buddhism are also clear to see. The piece was a joy to perform, but it isnt easy, as Noah Levine points out about meditation: sitting still is a pain in the ass [3]. The real genius of 433 is that it forces you to experience your surroundings, to take in the world as it is right at that second. The sound of your breathing, the beating of your heart and the

occasional sounds from other people in the room, the back-ground noise of the building system, the audience walking out in disgust, all mix in an auditorium designed for perfect acoustics to give an amazing sensory experience. If its possible to experience sound in such a direct way, I wonder, could we also experience cultural heritage in a similar manner? I recently visited El Santuario de Chimayo and the shrine of Santa Nio de Atocha in the mountains of New Mexico [4]. This world renowned historical site is centered on the small church of El Santuario de Chimayo, which was built in 1813 in the community of El Potrero just out-side of Chimayo. There are a variety of legends that discuss the origin of the chapel, the most repeated states that in 1810, during Holy Week, the crucifix "Nuestro Seor de Esquipulas" was dug up, and sent to Santa Cruz church but mysteriously returned to the spot where it was first excavated. After this happened three times the spot was chosen to build a chapel to house the crucifix. Other legends are less interesting, but probably more plausible. As I entered the church, I heard the Hail Marys... of a group of old men and women saying the rosary, as one old man walked the aisles handing out plastic beads to anyone who wishes to join in, I took a seat at a pew near the back and sat in silence staring at the iconography. Before long I got up and walked through a small doorway to the left of the altar into a narrow room. In this room, there are messages, pictures, small gifts and cast off crutches left by
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John Cage (right) with David Tudor at Shiraz Arts Festival 1971. Photo courtesy Cunningham Dance Foundation archive.

pilgrims as well as a small shrine to Santo Nio de Atocha; there is a nearby chapel with a larger version of the shrine. At the end of this room, behind a tiny door, is el pocito (the little well) which contains Holy Dirt. This dirt is believed to have curative powers and is the reason so many people come to this historic site. I joined the queue into the small room. The literature advises that The Holy Dirt is not to be eaten or drunk... until that moment the thought hadnt actually crossed my mind, but... Instead a prayer is suggested. I bent down, put my hands in the soil and let the warm soil fall through my fingertips until there was just a small amount remaining, with this I made the sign of the cross with the dirt upon my head, to clear my thoughts and mental distractions, and with my hands now dusty with soil I followed the instructed act of rubbing the Holy Dirt over the parts of my body in need of healing, and then I brushed the soil over my whole body in the same motion as if taking part in a smudging ceremony,
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and uttered the suggested closure of ... Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. I entered as a bemused tourist, and came out as a pilgrim, albeit an unrepentant sinner, covered in magic dirt. In the American Southwest it is aesthetically fascinating to experience the indigenous and/or hispanic influences that make churches both familiar and unfamiliar to my western European eyes. But taking part in the folk life of churches allows us to experience these places in a whole new way; beyond a simple admiration for religious art and architecture. Its even more fascinating to note that the popular appeal of the church hasnt waned in the face of its colonial history; my own suspicion is that the folk rituals of the church hold as great, if not greater, appeal than any theological ties to the Holy See. Experiencing cultural heritage in this spirit of 433 involves such an embrace of the myths and legends, living
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Entrance to Chimayo. Photo by Daniel Cull.

Crucifixes left by Pilgrims. Photo by Daniel Cull

with the site in the moment, following the form of rituals to create a direct connection with those whove trod the road before. Just as 433 without an audience with musical knowledge is simply a post-modern joke, the chapel without pilgrims is just a building with a pit full of soil. By allowing us to experience the connection and commonality between people, living and dead, the performance space (whether church or auditorium) becomes a sacred space.

DANIEL CULL
Conservator The Musical Instrument Museum Contact: daniel.cull@themim.org Daniel Cull is a board member of e-conservation. As a conservator he specializes in ethnographic materials, and holds the position of Conservator at the Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (USA). Daniel trained at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, where he received an MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums, an MA in Principles of Conservation, and a BSc in Archaeology. His recent research interests have focused around Web 2.0, Wikipedia, and the ethical implications of the emerging social media landscape for conservators. He has also published on post-colonial ethics, Native American contemporary art, and collaborative or consultation-led conservation.

Notes: [1] TheMIMvideo, MIM Team performance of 4'33" by John Cage, URL (accessed 5 September 2012) [2] A. Tsioulcas, Silence and Sound: Five Ways of Understanding John Cage, deceptive cadence: from npr classical, URL (accessed 5 September 2012) [3] N. Levine, Against the Steam: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries, HarperOne, 2007 [4] http://www.elsantuariodechimayo.org/
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THE RENAISSANCE WORKSHOP The Materials and Techniques of Renaissance Art

Review by Helen Glanville 11-12 May 2012, Rome, Italy Organised by: CHARISMA

On 11th-12th of May, the British Museum hosted a two-day cross- and inter-disciplinary meeting centred on the practices of Renaissance Workshops. The two days, subdivided into sessions representing different art forms - paintings, bronze sculpture, polychromy and wood, enamels and jewellery, prints and drawings, and moulding and casting techniques - brought together a broad variety of speakers from different disciplines the conservator, the conservation scientist, the technical art historian and the art historian. Not only was a broad spectrum of the different workshops in the Renaissance represented, and the practical techniques which would result in the creation of the art work investigated, but what was particularly interesting I found, were the different optics underlying the different approaches to and of examination. For instance, the speakers and posters were from both the private and public sectors showing the possibility of fruitful cross-pollination, a dialogue between the disciplines so cross-disciplinary rather than inter-disciplinary. Several of the presentations and posters were the fruit of research funded by CHARISMA. Having myself benefited from access to technical data for my research under the ArchLab , I would
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British Museum Director Neil Macgregor opening the conference.

greatly encourage people within the conservation profession to take advantage of such opportunities. The proceedings were opened on behalf of the host institution by Neil McGregor, its Director, and previously Director of the National Gallery in London, and an open advocate of what the conference underscored: the necessity of understanding the process of the making of art in order to fully understand the product. What the two days proceedings also brought to the fore, was the need to compare techniques across media at a particular moment in history when the division between the arts was not not entrenched in the same way it is now, to a certain extent within the creative arts, but more conspicuously, so within the conservation profession. Bruno Brunetti, who heads the CHARISMA project introduced the different strands, and then ran
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through a few of the current projects which are currently being funded by CHARISMA. If there are still members of the conservation profession conservators, scientists or technical art historians who are still unaware of the opportunitites offered, I strongly encourage them to look at the website. The first session was launched in style by Paola Ricciardi (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) relating the use of non-invasive techniques such as FORS, for the examination of Lorenzo Monacos manuscript illuminations in the context of his panel painting practice. The most illuminating (!) result was the selective use of egg yolk for the painting of the flesh in the illuminations, raising the question as to whether this practice was confined to Monaco and his workshop, or whether there might be a more broadly based cross-over between the medium used by illuminators and panel painters in the 15th century in Italy.
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were used to determine attributions of undocumented bronzes through the preferential use of certain alloys, and an evolution in casting methods piece-meal rather than whole allowing a higher finish of even the most contiguous elements. Robert Van Langh (Head of Conservation, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) discussed the influence of neutron imaging and diffraction techniques used both separately and in combination - on our knowledge of Renaissance hollow cast bronze statuettes. As neutrons, unlike X-rays, will penetrate everything, differences in metals are distinguishable whilst remaining a non-destructive means of investigation. A useful by-product of the study for dating was the fact that it proved that historic bronzes (pre-1850), because of the iron impurites, were magnetic, unlike post-1850 bronzes useful distinguishing for distinguishing later copies. The next two sessions were devoted to investigations of workshop practices in the working of wood. Peter Stiberc (Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence) spoke of the construction techniques of Renaissance crucifixes around 1500 in Florence, and the shift from the traditional carving of these from whole trunks which were then hollowed out to prevent cracking, to that of individual blocks of wood which allowed both finishing in the round, and obviated the need for hollowing out. Filipa Raposo Cordeiro presented part of her PhD research on the joinery of rare Portuguese altarpieces, with a case study of one by a foreign painter of English origin Thomas Lewis looking at his practices in the context of Portuguese artists, as well as that of foreign artists working in Portugal. We then moved on to Transylvania, Cristina Serendan (Department of Conservation and Restoration,
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CHARISMA coordinator Bruno Brunetti during his keynote lecture.

This was followed by a very impressive and intellectually cogent presentation given by Anabelle Krinar (Department of Art History, Ljubljana University) on the comparative investigation of workshop practice in a series of wall paintings in Slovenia in the 14th and 15th centuries, which looked at the interrelationship of Northern Italian fresco/secco techniques, and indigenous Slovenian practice. The session devoted to bronze sculpture began with a survey of Roccatagliatas small bronze statuettes; relating their family resemblance to their method of fabrication as revealed by Xradiography, that is use of a pre-formed core with added wax appendages which would vary. This presentation was given by Shelley Sturman (Head of Object Conservation, National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC), and was then followed by two more papers within the field of bronze sculpture. The first was given by Dylan Smith (also from the Objects Conservation Department of the same instituion) presenting the results of an investigation into the casting techniques and alloy composition of bronze statuettes from the workshops of the Susini family (uncle and nephew - inheritors of the workshop tradi-tions of Giambologna). Portable XRF analysis as well as X-radiography
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National University of Arts, Bucharest) presenting interdisciplinary research on behalf of herself and colleagues from the Czech Republic and Australia/Netherlands, looking at the identification of materials and technological signatures of two little documented or known workshops that of Johannes Stoss in Sighisoara (Schassbourg) and the Vicentius workshop in Sibiu. Examination and a variety of analyses were carried out in situ and in the laboratory. Maite Jover de Celis presented the results of the investigations carried out by the Prado Museum Analysis Laboratory on the Altarpiece of St. Dominic of Sylos by Bartolom Bermejo, dating from the last quarter of the 15th century. A fascinating analysis of technical results proving the presence of two different hands in the altarpiece, juxtaposed with the contract and other documentary material relating to this particular altarpiece, revealing the degree of collaboration, as well as a wealth of fascinating detail. This talk brought to a close the first day of presentations, and was followed by a poster session (for the broad range of subjects covered by the posters as well as by the oral presentations, please see the relevant attached programmes). Fridays sessions on workshop practice in the field of enamels, gemstones and jewellery got off to a very lively and highly polished start with Jack Ogden examining the traditional elements present in jewellery workshop practice in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the introduction of new technologies in the 17th (for instance blow-pipe soldering) based on the juxtaposition of microscopic examination of artefacts (from the Cheapside hoard), and contemporary representations of jewellery workshops. This was followed by an equally fascinating talk given by Joanna Whalley (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) looking at the techniques used to enhance the appearance
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of gemstones in the Renaissance the practice of the gem-setter compared to that of the alchemist: that is making appear what is not. I found this particularly fascinating, as this concept is so essential to the understanding of Renaissance art as a whole, and would seem to be fundamental across all disciplines and art forms: counterfeit being valued more highly than the thing itself because of the skill involved. Isabelle Biron (C2RMF, Paris) gave a fascinating talk on proton induced non-destructive analysis of Venetian enamelled glass. Of particular interest was the presence and role of pigments such as the lead/tin/antimony opacifier used as an opacifier in glass, which then at a slightly later date was used as a yellow pigment on the painters palette, and from the point of authentication and distinction between Renaissance artefacts and their 19th century copies, the high lead of these which is absent in their 16th century counterparts. The next session was devoted to painting workshops with three talks looking at aspects of workshop practice in Renaissance Spain, Jacobean London and Italy. Rafael Romero spoke about a rare and unique example of a glue on canvas painting by Morales, exploring the technique both in the context of documentary sources (Pacheco and the ordonanza of Cordoba and Saragoza for instance), the arrival in Valencia in 1521 of two paintings on fabric by Sebastiano del Piombo which now hang in the Prado Museum, and the materials and technique of workshop productions of similar paintings on fabric. Catherine Daunt and Edward Down (National Portrait Gallery, London) as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain Project - gave an amusing but nonetheless serious cross-disciplinary overview of Renaissance painting workshop practice in England, looking at the production of
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Poster session.

three sets of paintings, examining the issues of multiple hands within sets and within individual paintings, as well as the difference in technique between commissioned paintings, and those produced for the market place. Erma Hermens (Glasgow University), using documents and ledgers from the Della Rovere sets of workshops in Pesaro (and the similar ones erected in Florence by the Medici), built up a picture of this highly collaborative enterprise which brought together artists and craftsmen under one general roof under a general supervisor to produce artefacts, revealing the patterns of organisation and collaboration between the incumbents. The following session, devoted to prints and drawings, was launched in sparkling fashion with a paper by Antony Griffiths, former keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum, that demonstrated in the context of ornamental prints, the surprising connections between the technique used to make a particular artefact, and the
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technique or tools used in its illustration: so for instance a goldsmith producing an engraving of an ornament used the dots and punches associated with his craft rather than a burin. Angela Campbell (Conservation Department of the Metropolitan Museum, New York), who was looking at the materials and processes used by Drer in three of his iconic engravings, amply demonstrated the importance of the role of reconstructions in the understanding of technique when she paired up with a practising engraver Andrew Raftery to reproduce one of Drers engravings of 1514 St Paul. Hundreds of impressions from the plate were systematically pulled and documented, establishing that beaten plates were harder and nondirectional, and therefore easier to engrave than rolled plates, and that the small percentage of lead in the copper not only affected the softness of the plate for engraving but also its durability. Theresa Smith (Harvard Library) looked at handcoloured anatomical woodcuts in collaboration with conservation scientists, art historians and
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historians of science, reconstructing print-shop practices which combined/balanced the seemingly extravagant production technique of handcoloured prints with the cost-cutting production techniques through the physical traces on the engravings. Still in the area of paper, Maria Clelia Galassi (University of Genova) investigated the visual evidence for the use of carta lucida (parchment or paper soaked in linseed oil or olio di abezzo) for the transferral of designs in Italian workshops, despite the fact that so few survive as they were not collectable items. Moving on to the final session on casting and moulding practices in the Renaissance Workshop, a very interesting talk on the Royal Mint in London was given by Justine Bayley which further demonstrated (as in the previous talk), how important concrete physical, archaelogical evidence in this case in the form of shards is to the reconstruction of workshop practices, an element which in other fields is absent, and has to be reconstructed from such second hand evidence as illustrations. The importance of reconstruction to ones knowledge of workshop techniques, also played a crucial role in the investigation presented by Tonny Beentjes relating to the reconstruction from documentary sources of life-casting techniques. As a result of these experiments, the authors found new evidence of procedures when re-examining the artefacts anew after the experiments, which neatly emphasised an aspect of all investigation whatever its nature which is often overlooked: that what one sees, ones observations and interpretations, will be largely directed by ones previous knowledge and understanding, not an objective innocent eye. The session and meeting drew to its close with a lively presentation on behalf of multiple
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French authors from a variety of disciplines, on the practice of the ceramicist, alchemist and scientist Bernard Palissy. Using the ceramic shards found during excavations when building the Carrousel in the Louvre, and juxtaposing and interpreting these findings in the light of his writings, not only did the gathered information shed light on the techniques of this Renaissance master, but it will in the future help in the authentication of artefacts attributed to him in museums throughout the world. David Saunders on behalf of both CHARISMA and the British Museum drew the proceedings of this highly successful meeting to a close, re-emphasising how all the different kinds of technical evidence and research can contribute to ones understanding of workshop practices as well as the inter-relationship between the various artisans and artists, and the pivotal role that the CHARISMA consortium plays in generating and supporting such research. The Proceedings will in due course be published by Archetype Publications, together with the Poster Sessions.

HELEN GLANVILLE Conservator Contact: helen.glanville@orange.fr

A practising paintings conservator, Helen Glanville has taught and published widely. She is currently Research Associate at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge where she is carrying out research in technical art history, specialising in 16th and 17th century painting techniques in Italy.
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POLYCHROME SCULPTURE: ARTISTIC TRADITION AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

ICOM-CC Working Group Interim Meeting
Review by Ana Bidarra 13-14 April 2012 Glasgow, Scotland Organised by: ICOM-CC Sculpture, Polychromy and Architectural Decoration Working Group Stichting Restauratie Atelier, Maastricht (NL) Glasgow Museums / Glasgow Life The Burrell Collection, Glasgow (UK) 13th and a dinner at a restaurant in Merchants City. The first day started with Stephanie de Roemer (Glasgow Life, UK) one of the organizers with a presentation on Conservation study of materials and techniques of Medieval and Renaissance sculpture as a strategy for the Burrells sculpture collection re-display. The Burrell collection, with around 400 pieces of sculpture from the 12th to the 16th century, includes several materials, techniques and dimensions. Stephanie de Roemer talked on the planned re-display of the collection for 2016-2017 as an opportunity to apply a conservation strategy for the investigation and documentation of the materials, tool marks and physical conditions of the sculptures and to define the type of interventive and preventive conservation measures for re-display and storage. The second presentation was given by Peter Stiberc (Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Italy) who pointed out several doubts related to the early Renaissance Florence sculptures by Donatello, Brunelleschi and others. The wood sculpture from this period is rather unknown although all of the main early Renaissance sculptures were commissioned to carve wood statues. Peter talked on the techniques used by the sculptures in order to prevent cracking and compared two masterpieces by Donatello and Brunelleschi. The
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This two-day symposium was focused on artistic tradition within the field of polychrome sculpture relating to construction techniques. The meeting followed the conference held in Maastricht in October 2010 on Tool Marks and Construction Techniques. The symposium was hosted by The Burrell Collection, one of Glasgows most prestigious museums. A wide variety of three-dimensional polychrome supports were discussed such as wood, stone, terracotta, metal, wax, paper or cloth. These meetings are organized by the Sculpture, Polychromy and Architectural Decoration Working Group (SPAD) of ICOM within the planned triennium activities and work as an opportunity to present the most recent achievements on polychrome sculpture construction techniques and on conservation treatments. The presentations are limited to a small number and all of the speakers have a 30 minutes period to present, allowing a detailed approach to the different subjects and making these conferences rather appealing and enjoyable. The Glasgow conference had 14 speakers and 7 posters and was attended by 40 participants from 15 different countries. For such an interesting conference, the number of delegates was quite reduced. Along with the conference a social program was offered: a civic reception at The Winter Gardens offered by the Lord Provost on Friday
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Poster session.

third presentation, by Lynn Lee (Getty, USA), was entitled Technical analysis of the J. Paul Getty Museums 18th century Genoese Christ Child: an example of a variation in regional practice and was focused on the different exams and studies carried out in order to achieve a better knowledge of the sculpture. The morning ended with Anne rnhi (NIKU, Norway) and the investigation of the construction methods and workshop tradition of a group of Norwegian medieval wood crucifixes. After lunch and visits to the conservation and restoration studios of the museum it was time for the poster presentations. Since the number of posters was reduced it was possible for each author to present the poster individually. The day ended with two presentations by Beate Fuecker (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Germany) and Maria Rodrguez (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain). The first afternoon presentation was Use of sized cloth for the construction of polychrome sculpture by Beate Fuecker. It was a very interesting talk on the use of cloth not to
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cover flaws in wood sculpture but to outline and complete sculptures. The cloth was applied as a substitute for the delicate parts of carving, to form the drapery or even combined with other materials such as straw or wax, creating lightweight sculptures in a time-saving manner. Sometimes artists would make an entire sculpture out of stiffened cloth. It was also possible to use this technique in the past for restoration purposes or even to make alterations, such as covering naked representations of Christ or angles. The speaker showed several examples from Germany and southern Europe, from the 14th to the 19th century when this sculptures were made for ephemeral installations, processions or temporary presentations. The inadequate state of conservation is one of the reasons why so few examples survived. The final presentation, by Maria Rodrguez, was about the preliminary findings and conservation treatment of a sculpture depicting the Virgin and Child from the Cathedral of Valencia (Spain) from the second half of the 15th century.
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Visit to the stained-glass conservation studio.

The second day started with a very interesting presentation by Agns Le Gac (New University of Lisbon, Portugal) on Materials and construction techniques used to produce two wax-cast figurines. The figurines belong to the Machado de Castro National Museum (Coimbra, Portugal) and are dated from the second half of the 18th century. Both sculptures were cast from the same mould and their study and systematic comparison offered an opportunity to verify aspects inherent to the production of multiple copies in wax casting. The second morning presentation was on the Monumental polychromed clay sculptures in blocks from the second half of the 17th century from the Monastery of Saint Mary of Alcobaa by Andr Remgio (Portugal). Particular attention was given to the study of authorship, workshop, construction techniques and materials. After the coffee break, Ana Bidarra (Aveiro University, Portugal) and Emilio Ruiz de Arcaute (Diputacin Foral de lava, Spain) spoke on the Technical study of a Portuguese 18th century
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clay Nativity Scene and On the trail of a select group of Central European reliquary busts; Authorship attribution on the bases of construction typology, respectively. The first communication focused on the study of a Nativity Scene with more than 60 clay sculptures with heights between 10 and 20 centimetres. This figurines presented several details similar to the wooden sculpture decorative motives along with particular techniques such as the use of glass eyes or glacis. The technical and analytical investigation preceded the conservation and restoration of the set. Emilio Ruiz communication revealed the results of years of study and investigation of a group of five reliquary busts. The study used several analytical techniques in order to provide information on the structure, materials, assembly systems and manufacturing stages. The results allowed establishing a very specific typology that could be compared with other works with similar features. After lunch, the second and last day ended with four communications. The first one, by Kim
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Woods (Open University, UK), focused on Late Medieval polychromed alabaster sculptures from Spain to England: an Art Historians view. The speaker exposed what is known about polychromed alabaster sculpture and its variation within different European countries. Several questions on colour and luminosity were also addressed, mainly how the material itself should be more or less covered by layers of paint. It was also discussed who was responsible for polychroming this pieces and the information provided by documents. Another interesting question was to what extent restoration has distorted the knowledge of the technique and how art history could set some parameters. The second afternoon presentation, by Tone Olstad (NIKU, Norway) was on An 18th century altarpiece dated to the first part of the 16th century. The presentation focused on the construction of the altarpiece and how, in fact, what was thought to be an 18th century work with pieces of more than one medieval altarpiece was in fact a 16th century work. Next, Elsa Murta (Institute of Museums and Conservation, Portugal) spoke on the construction techniques of three altarpieces from three different 16th century Flemish centres: Brussels, Mechelen and Antwerp. The presentation focused on aspects of the traditional art and construction of Flemish altarpieces as found in imported artworks, along with comparative details and conservation and restoration procedures for each work. The last presentation was entitled 19th century construction and polychrome techniques of Pierre Cuypers and his studio; All that glitter is not gold by Arnold Truyen (Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg, Netherlands). It was a very interesting presentation on the study of the sculptures from the studio of Pierre Cuypers (1827-1921) and its neo-gothic works. His studio worked to a strict set of rules and models to create new decorative elements, including sculptures, on a mass scale. During the presentation, Arnold Truyen addressed
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several questions regarding the similarity between the techniques and materials used in the 19th century and the ones from the Gothic period. This two-day symposium was of great interest with several enlightening and eye-catching presen-tations. The opportunity to speak for 30 minutes and few, but good presentations, made all the difference! Postprints will be published by Archetype Books. The third and final symposium will be held in Tomar, Portugal in the end of May 2013 and it will focus on artistic tradition within the field of polychrome sculpture decorative practice. The main subject will be on decoration techniques, from painting materials, to varnishes or metal leaf applications.

ANA BIDARRA Conservator-restorer Contact: bidarra.ana@gmail.org Ana Bidarra is a conservator-restorer specialised in sculpture. She has a degree in ConservationRestoration from the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar and a Master in GeoSciences from the University of Aveiro on white structured pigments for restoration. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the same university researching the compositional and technological aspects of gold leaf from Portuguese baroque altarpieces. She is an assistantcoordinator of ICOM Sculpture Polychromy and Architectural Decoration Working Group (SPAD) and she is also a collaborator of e-conservation. Ana works as a conservator-restorer in private practice since 1999.
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CONNECTING TO CONSERVATION: OUTREACH AND ADVOCACY

AIC 2012 Annual Meeting
Review by Rose Cull 8-11 May 2012 Albuquerque, New Mexico, US Organised by: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC)

The theme of the 2012 annual meeting was Connecting to Conservation: Outreach and Advocacy. This year, the format of the general sessions was modified: in addition to the usual keynote speakers, there were 90-minute Outreach sessions, running concurrently, that were coordinated by a group of conservators. These longer sessions could be experimental with their format, there were panel discussions, a lecture followed by focus group discussions, and a debate with three conservators on each team arguing a position by responding to a series of statements in two minutes or less. This new approach to the general session was effective because it allowed the audience to really mull over a topic, and the resulting discussions brought up many interesting ideas and capitalized on the intelligence in the room, letting conservators learn from each other. Tuesday, May 8th prior to the start of lectures, I participated in one of two Angels projects, where conservators volunteer at a local organization to assist with collections care. The project I volunteered for was with the Sandoval County Historical Society at the historic adobe home of artist Edmond DeLavy. There were fifteen volunteers who assisted in re-housing maps, oil paintings and archival materials. The conservators performed the re-housing while instructing the historical society volunteers in how to carry on
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the re-housing project in the future. Other preconference events included one-day workshops on project management, funding disaster recovery, assessing collection risks, digital imagine rectification and mapping with Metigo MAP software, using outreach to grow a conservation business, suction table basics, and respirator fit testing. As well as workshops, there were tours of local cultural sites including Acoma Pueblo, Coronado State Monument, Tamarind Institute, and the University of New Mexico Art Museum print and photograph collection. The lectures during the annual meeting are separated by specialty group, of which there are ten: architecture, paintings, objects, textiles, wood, electronic media, photography, book and paper, research and technical studies, and conservators in private practice. The meeting had around 900 attendees and a record number of participants, there were 55 presenters in the outreach sessions and 90 presenters at the specialty group sessions. The Book and Paper specialty group is the largest and had two full days of lectures, the other specialty groups had between one or two days of lectures. I attended the lectures on objects conservation and electronic media conservation. The talks presented by the objects specialty group covered a range of topics, and one session was
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Albuquerque Civic Plaza, view across the street from the convention center. Photo by Jason Church.

Albuquerque skyline. Photo by Jason Church.

held jointly with the research and technical studies specialty group. A memorable talk from the American Museum of Natural History was a discussion of options for re-coloring faded taxidermy, for example, Orasol dyes in ethanol applied with a special brush on the taxidermy hair offers a reversible option that is safe to use in active gallery spaces. Emily Kaplan, conservator at the National Museum of the American Indian presented an ongoing research project on Qeros she is conducting with Ellen Howe, Conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellen Pearlstein, Associate Professor at UCLA, and Judith Levinson, Director of Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. The project has analytical participants including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University, the Museum Conservation Institute, and the University of Barcelona. Qeros (also spelled Kero or Quero) are drinking vessels, made of many materials, most commonly wood, created in pairs, and decorated with polychrome imagery. The goals of this research are to understand the polychrome materials and techniques, and through this understanding create a chronology of materials and
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techniques. Qeros have been made continually for millennia and provide an important link between the past and present in the Andes, as they are still made and used today. The project has been an active area of research since 1995, and in that time advances in technology and analytical methods have allowed smaller samples to be taken, and the conservators have built up an electronic database of their findings instead of relying on paper records. The lecture offered an insightful look at the workings of a large project and the amount of commitment and passion these conservators have for the study of Qeros. The electronic media talks discussed a number of ideas, one of the points I took home was the recognition by electronic media conservators of the great need for collaboration with experts in the media they are trying to preserve. There were also discussions about whether keeping media in the original analog format instead of migrating to a digital format is soulless because it makes the conservator reliant on playback machines, or does migrating to a new format remove the soul from the piece? I enjoyed the discussion of the soul of
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Paintings storage at the historic adobe home of artist Edmond DeLavyat before (left) and after (right) during one of the Angels projects. Photos by Jason Church.

the object, and I saw many similarities between the conservation of electronic media and current discussions about the conservation of intangible cultural heritage. One of the new initiatives that were celebrated at the meeting was the launch of the Collections Care Network, a group that all members of AIC can join and a group that it is hoped will be appealing to all who work in the field of collections care. The network had a brief introduction followed by focus group discussions, and a reception. One part of the AIC annual meeting that sets it apart from other conservation meetings is the presence of conservation suppliers and an exhibit hall. I could wander around booths promoting conservation materials like books, hand tools, paints, portable XRF analytical tools, mannequins, and many other materials. It is a good way to think if I have become too tired from lectures. The meeting felt more commercial than other conservation conferences; perhaps this is a uniquely American twist.
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ROSE CULL Conservator Contact: rose@phoenixartconservation.com

Rose Cull is a board member of e-conservation. Rose runs a private practice in Phoenix, AZ, where she specializes in the conservation of sculpture and contemporary art. Rose trained at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) where she received an MS in Art Conservation. Her recent research interests have focused on the role of the artists interview, and the conservation of electronic dance music. She has previously published on the legal rights of artists and conservators under VARA, issues of sustainability in conservation, and the changing views of preventive conservation. Rose is the assistant coordinator the ICOM-CC Theory and History of Conservation working group, and the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Electronic Media Group.

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COPYING, REPLICATING & EMULATING PAINTINGS IN THE 15 th-18th CENTURY

Review by Sue Ann Chui 21-22 May 2012 Copenhagen, Denmark Organised by: National Gallery of Denmark

The newly founded Centre for Art Technological Studies and Conservation (CATS), a collaborative venture between the National Gallery of Denmark, the National Museum of Denmark, and the School of Conservation (SoC) at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, held its first international conference, Copying, Replicating & Emulating Paintings in the 15th-18th Century, at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen 21-22 May 2012. The theme of the conference was inspired by a pan-European research project, Tracing Bosch and Brueghel: Four Paintings Magnified, in which four versions of Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple were studied. The research was published in the book On the Trail of Bosch and Brueghel Four Paintings United under Cross-Examination which was generously included in the attendees conference packet. The well-attended conference hosted 165 participants representing 17 countries, the largest contingents coming naturally from Denmark, followed by The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA. The reconsideration of the role copies and imitating play is timely as for too long they had been considered of minor intellectual and artistic value. The goal of the conference was to shed new light on European workshop practice from the 15th-18th centuries through art historical and technical examination of paintings. This multidisciplinary approach was reflected in the
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thoughtful and varied selection of art historians, conservators and scientists who gave nineteen papers divided among seven sessions organized more or less chronologically over the two-day conference. In addition to the talks, there was a poster session with over ten contributions that could be viewed during the breaks. As there were too many presentations to describe each one individually, only some papers will be highlighted from each session. After Jrgen Wadum, Keeper of Conservation at the National Gallery of Denmark and Director of CATS, welcomed the attendees, the first session Emulations and Copies in the 15th-16th Century started with the keynote speaker Matthijs Ilsink, (Bosch Research and Conservation Project, Noordbrabants Museum, The Netherlands) who extracted new meaning from a small panel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in his talk Inversive Emulation: Pieter Bruegel and the cripples from Croton. He proposed that this small painting in the Louvre after a print by Bosch was not merely a copy, but also a conscious exercise in emulating the great Greek painter Zeuxis, and in turn was taking to task Nature and Art with which the artist was competing. In Pieter Brueghel as a copyist after Pieter Bruegel, Christina Curries and Dominique Allart
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(IRPA, Brussels and University of Lige, Belgium) gave us a peek into the recently published threevolume book on the Brueg(h)el family. Peter Brueghel the Younger, who was four or five years old when his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder died in 1569, was nevertheless able to make faithful replicas of his fathers paintings because he inherited a trove of working drawings. Their research allowed distinctions to be made between the Youngers productions and that of his rival copyists. But not all can be revealed - for example, five versions of the Wedding Dance were studied, and while a common cartoon seems to exist for all five paintings, the exact copying method is still not known. England in the 16th-17th century was the theme of the second session, and for that Sophie Plender and Polly Saltmarsh (National Portrait Gallery, London and independent practice, Cambridge, United Kingdom) demonstrated that there was continued interest in portraits by Holbein long after his death in Copies and Versions: Discussing Holbeins legacy in England. Technical examination of copies of Holbein portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. Their study of eight paintings, which was a part of the Making of Art in Tudor Britain project, showed they were only superficially similar to Holbeins paintings as various hands were present as well as different materials and techniques from Holbein which might suggest he did not leave behind a workshop that would carry on his methods. In the third session Materials as Markers, Melanie Gifford (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) related visual conventions adopted by 17th

Up to down: the picturesque Nyhavn, Copenhagen (photo by Sue Ann Chui); Jrgen Wadum welcomes the audience on the first day (photo by Sue Ann Chui); conference attendees listen to a presentation ( SMKFoto); questions and discussion during the first session ( SMKFoto).
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Melanie Gifford delivering Julia Burdajewicz's paper "Assumption of the Virgin by studio of Peter Paul Rubens from the National Gallery of Art in Washington - between master's piece and student's copy". SMKFoto.

Coffee break. SMKFoto.

century artists to recent neuroscience research in her paper Material innovation and convention. The peak shift effect helps to explain how artists in emulating other artists, such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Rembrandt, came to exaggerate certain visual qualities of their painting techniques because the brain picks out and responds to certain features that describe a visual stimulus. The case studies presented showed that the process of emulation contributed to both an evolution of innovation and conventionalization of painting techniques. At the end of the first day, the conference participants were introduced to an innovative and
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engaging exhibition, designed in collaboration with a group of young museum supporters, on historical painting technique and modern day conservation that featured the version of Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple belonging to the National Gallery of Denmark. Illuminated tracing Bosch & Brueghel was presented in two parts. In the first room, visitors stepped into a simulated conservation lab lined with bottle-filled cabinets with a reproduction of the painting on an easel in the center. Next to it was a restorers tabouret covered with a bonnet to protect the display of the tools of the trade. As one left this space, you came face to face with a virtual conservator - a life-size projection of Jrgen
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Wadum explaining the various steps of conserving a painting. The second room represented a step back in time, about 450 years, to the artists studio where the actual panel painting was on display on an easel, so one could view not only the front, but the reverse as well. On the second day, the fourth session From the Netherlands to Antwerp, 17th-18th Century Anita Jansen and Johanneke Verhave (Museum het Prinsenhof, Delft, The Netherlands and independent art historian and paintings conservator) gave a fascinating paper on the prolific portraitist Michiel van Miervelt Copy master. Exploring the oeuvre of the Van Mierevelt workshop. Miervelts workshop was without equal, and produced around 5,000 portraits over a fifty-year period, of which over 600 survive. An impressive 250 of these surviving paintings were included in Jansen and Verhaves study, and they created a database which details art historical, archival and technical information. Based on their research, fifty percent of his oeuvre consisted of copies of famous and important people, such as the portrait of Prince Maurits. This was Mierevelts most important commission and over the years his studio made many variants of this portrait, even aging the prince in 4-stages. His methodical and consistent painting technique was revealed to facilitate a production line of portraiture. Philip IV gave Rubens extraordinary permission to make scale copies of Titian paintings in the Royal collection that had to be taken off the walls and brought to a temporary studio set up for Rubens. The extent of Rubens involvement in the copies versus his assistants was the focus of Jeremy Woods (University of Nottingham, UK) paper The problem of Rubenss copies painted in Madrid in 1628-29 which lead the fifth session Rubens and his Workshop. Woods placed the at least 22 copies, which were kept by the artist
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The exhibition Illuminated tracing Bosch & Brueghel. Photo by Sue Ann Chui.

"Virtual" conservator explains the art of conservation to visitors. Photo by Sue Ann Chui.

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Simulated conservation studio in the exhibition. Photo by Sue Ann Chui.

until his death, into three groupings: those mostly by Rubens, those painted by workshop assistants and retouched by Rubens, and those executed entirely by assistants. Unfortunately, no technical information was available from the paintings in Madrid, which constitute the majority of the extant copies, to corroborate Woods findings, so this group still needs to be explored. In the sixth session, devoted to Italian copies, James Hamm (Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York, USA) delivered a follow-up to the sensational story of the discovery of a supposed painting by Michelangelo in A Lost Michelangelo Discovered?, co-authored with Dan Kushel. Noninvasive analysis of the Piet, which duplicates a print by Michelangelo, included x-radiography, x-ray fluorescence and infrared reflectography. Hamm implied that the results of the analysis were inconsistent with a painting purported to be from the 16th century. In the last session on 18th-19th Century Copies, the mystery of Joseph Booths chymical and
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mechanical copies was investigated by David Saunders (British Museum) mostly through documentary sources about the copies that the artist had renamed polygraphs. The written descriptions left by Booth revealed more about his promotional abilities rather than the process of making them, so his technique still remains a mystery. Look for the proceedings of the conference in a special edition of the online publication ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History to be published in early 2013.

SUE ANN CHUI Conservator Contact: schui@getty.edu Sue Ann Chui is a paintings conservator specialized in the structural conservation of panel paintings. At the moment she works as associate conservator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
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FRENCH BRONZES: HISTORY, MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUES OF BRONZE SCULPTURE IN FRANCE (16th -18th C.)
Review by Carol Grissom 9-12 June 2012 Paris, France Organised by: Muse du Louvre and Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Muses de France (C2RMF)

The French bronze conference held 9-12 June 2012 at the Muse du Louvre and Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Muses de France (C2RMF) in Paris proved to be a stimulating experience for this American objects conservator with a longstanding interest in bronze sculpture. Titled French Bronzes: History, Material and Techniques of Bronze Sculpture (16th-18th C.), the conference followed the 2008-2009 exhibition Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution at the Muse du Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. At the exhibition in New York, I had been astonished to see the cream of French sculpture from this period, and I marveled at the circumstances that led to this once-in-a-century travelling exhibition. Its extraordinary sculpture is not so well known outside France, probably because much of it was made for French royalty (particularly the earlier pieces) and under normal circumstances can only be seen at the Louvre or other French museums. Among the first items encountered in the exhibition were statuettes of a stark naked and recognizable Henry IV as Jupiter and his halfnaked wife Marie de Medici as Juno by Barthlemy Prieur, as well as a charming portrait of Louis XIV at the Age of Five commissioned by his mother from Jacques Sarazin. The exhibit ended with the statue of Diana the Huntress by the more univere-conser vation

sally known sculptor (and a personal favorite) Jean-Antoine Houdon, cast by the sculptor himself no less. In between were such treats as the oft-illustrated bronze reduction of an equestrian statue of Louis XIV from Copenhagen complete with gates and vents, together with a similar finished reduction from the British Royal Collection. The exhibition catalog, with contributions by art historians, curators, conservation scientists, and conservators (conservator-restorers in European parlance) is excellent, priced reasonably considering its size (more than 500 pages) and quality, and with good photographs. I would have liked more technical studies in the exhibition catalogue, so that I was delighted when the 2012 conference was proposed to take advantage of momentum generated by the exhibition. Many of the same art historians, curators, conservation scientists, and conservators who contributed to the exhibition catalogue had taken the opportunity to study the sculptures collaboratively and in depth during the exhibition. At the 2012 meeting they presented new results as well as overviews, while other colleagues also submitted papers. The goals of the conference were described as better understanding of: (1) the origins and cross-fertilization of ideas related to the making of bronzes in France between the Renaissance
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and eighteenth century; (2) the production of sculptors, founders, or individual works of art; and (3) current state-of-the-art research methods and their application. Organizing committee members were David Bourgarit (C2RMF), Jane Bassett (J. Paul Getty Museum), Francesca Bewer (Harvard Art Museums), and curators Genevive Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf from the Louvre. Support for the conference was provided by American Friends of the Louvre and Peter Marino Architect, who sat in the front row in full biker regalia and Mohawk on the first day. The four-day conference began with a well-attended public lecture day in the large auditorium at the Louvre. On the second day, a much smaller group of around 60 specialists was treated to a tour of the Coubertin bronze foundry and the galerie des Cerfs (hall of stags) at the Chteau de Fontainebleau. The foundry is located on a property with a chateau and seventeenth-century farm, inherited by the Baroness Yvonne de Coubertin from her uncle Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games. As part of the Baronesss interest in promoting traditional craftsmanship, a bronze foundry was started in 1963 by Jean Bernard. Sculptures by Joseph Bernard (his father) and others dot the propertys landscape. Knowledgeable foundry staff served as guides, showing sculptures in various stages of preparation for both the sand casting and lost wax ceramic shell casting practiced there.

Above: Seventeenth century farm buildings at the Chteau de Coubertin, where Jean Bernard established a bronze foundry in 1963 at the behest of the Baroness Yvonne de Coubertin. Courtesy Clare Finn. Middle: Sculptures displayed outside the Coubertin bronze foundry. Below: Hands-on sculpting exercise during the meeting. Courtesy Francesca Bewer.

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At Fontainebleau, chief curator Vincent Droguet and Genevive Bresc-Bautier provided short introductions to five Renaissance copies of Antique statuary, which introduced the Antique to northern France. Amazingly the statues were cast in bronze around 1540 at Fontainebleau itself from plaster molds of Antique statues made in Rome under the supervision of Primaticcio at the request of Francis I: the Laocon, Hercules, Apollo Belvedere, Belvedere Venus, and Dying Cleopatra (also known as Sleeping Ariadne). Also in the galerie des Cerfs was Barthlemy Prieurs Diana with a Hind, which has been replaced in its original location on a nearby fountain by a copy made by Balthazar Keller. Close examination was permitted. The third and final days were mainly lectures at C2RMF, but included a molding exercise one afternoon. Ample breaks facilitated renewal of old friendships and discussions with new colleagues. The following highlights and a few low points must be regarded as my opinions only, and they no doubt reflect my knowledge of particular subjects and ignorance of others. I enjoyed a review of ancient and medieval casting by Nicolas Thomas, complete with photographs of recent finds such as the Antique Captive Gaul from the Rhne River at Arles (on temporary exhibit at the Louvre) and of several recently excavated medieval foundries. Benot Mille presented experimental techniques measuring fusion welding and castability (using a mold with channels of different widths) to explore differences in fabrication between Greek

Above: Examination of the Belvedere Venus, cast in bronze by P. Beauchesne around 1540 from plaster molds of the Antique statue in Rome, galerie des cerfs at the Chteau de Fontainebleau. Below: Examining interior of Diana with a Hind cast in bronze by the sculptor Barthlemy Prieur from plaster molds of the Antique statue in Rome. Clockwise from right are David Bougarit, Franoise Urbain, lisabeth Lebon, and Regina Seelig-Teuwen.
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Entrance, Chteau de Fontainebleau.

and Roman and early modern European bronze statues. This work showed that the very thin metal walls and a large number of welds characteristic of Antique bronzes were enabled by successful fusion welding, while the inability of later founders to master the technique led to thick walls, a small number of assemblies, and the holy grail of casting in a single pour. Swedish art historian Linda Hinners showed rare documents illustrating a French-style lost-wax bronze foundry planned but never constructed in Stockholm in 1697 for Franois-Jacques Aubry and the sculptors Charles Langlois and Jacques Foucquet. Tony Beentjes once again demonstrated his outstanding practical skills in a paper on experimentation with Renaissance life casting techniques of recently killed animals and plants in southern Germany (for example, by Wenzel Jamnitzer) and northern Italy based on a French technical manuscript (ca. 1580) at the Bibliothque Nationale in Paris, in conjunction with historian of science Pamela Smith. Jean-Marie Welter
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showed his metallurgical expertise in discussing the so-called Keller alloy (for example, CuZn6Sn4Pb2) and its use (or as it happened, more often not) for equestrian monuments in France and northern Europe during the eighteenth century. Arlen Heginbotham presented the first of a number of sets of bronze reference standards to Robert van Langh, noting that he has found free PyMca software to be best for X-ray fluorescence analyses. He also illustrated technical evidence of different methods of producing gilt bronze decoration from the late seventeenth through the eighteenth century, as well as nineteenth-century copies. As a conservator I especially liked seeing photographs of the disassembly of Benvenuto Cellinis Nymph of Fontainebleau at the Louvre and other sculptures treated by Antoine Amarger, which demonstrated how fortunate this man has been to work on so many masterpieces. Julia Days presentation of the results of thorough examination of a questioned medieval French bronze
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Participants on the steps of the chteau. Courtesy Francesca Bewer.

Angel by Jean Barbet in the Fricks collection proved to me that the statue can no longer be reasonably questioned. The equestrian statue of Charles I (1633) by Hubert Le Sueur at Charing Cross, London and its replication throughout Great Britain presented by Louvre art historian Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau were new to me, and I was heartened by her apologies (and that of another art historian) for a dearth of technical information. This is progress from my standpoint! I had been dismayed that nineteenth-century bronzes were generally excluded from the conference, but fortunately one exception was made. lisabeth Lebons gave an excellent discussion of the historical, political, and ideological aspects that contributed to the rise and fall of sandcasting during the nineteenth century. This phenomenon had always seemed peculiar to me but now makes perfect sense (look out for her forthcoming book Fonte au sable, fonte cire perdue: historie dune rivalit, www.ophrys.fr, 20 Euros).
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Genevive Bresc-Bautiers overview of excellent provincial foundry production, such as Jean Rancys Dame Tholose (Lady of Toulouse) originally atop City Hall in Toulouse, would have been far better with more illustrations. It was also a pity that she and another French curator went well over their allotted times, forcing rushed talks by others at the end of the day. I would have liked to have heard a talk focusing on patinas, but they are notoriously difficult to analyze and document, and perhaps no one is working on them in depth. As I expected, Jane Bassett, Francesca Bewer, and David Bougarit each provided excellent overviews, but since I am somewhat familiar with their work I was particularly taken with their enthusiasm and collegiality. Presentation of alternative casting possibilities made me question everything I knew and sometimes made my head hurt. I will never forget Benvenuto Cellinis lasagna technique, however, or the possible misinterpretation of geometric cut-back cores
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presented by Jane. On days without translators, Francescas command of languages enhanced understanding for those of us whose French is far from perfect. The sweet patter of Davids fiveyear old twin boys alleviated an otherwise hellish trip back to Paris from Fontainebleau in Sunday evening traffic. And David must also have been instrumental in arranging the fantastic lunches provided at the C2RMF and Coubertin. As I find often occurs at smallish targeted conferences of this sort, the meeting proved to be excellent, and it was truly interdisciplinary. I look forward to obtaining the postprints, which are scheduled for publication by Archetype.

The News section is bringing up-to-date information on cultural heritage topics such as on-site conservation projects reports, reviews of conferences, lectures or workshops and any other kind of appropriate announcements. If you are involved in interesting projects and you want to share your experience with everybody else, please send us your news or announcements. For more details, such as deadlines and publication guidelines, please visit www.e-conservationline.com

CAROL GRISSOM Conservator Contact: grissomc@si.edu Carol Grissom has been Senior Objects Conservator at the Smithsonian Institution since 1984, specializing in treatment of plaster, stone, and metal sculpture. An authority on zinc sculpture, she published a 700-page book entitled Zinc Sculpture in America: 1850 to 1950 in 2009 and The zinc statuettes of Cornelius & Baker in Winterthur Portfolio in 2012. After a bachelors degree in art history from Wellesley College, she received a masters degree in art conservation from Oberlin College and then took advanced training at the national conservation institutes of Belgium and Italy. She previously worked as a conservator for Friuli Arts and Monuments (FRIAM) after the 1976 earthquake in the Friuli region of Italy, sculpture conservator at the Center for Archaeometry, Washington University, St. Louis, and exhibitions conservator at the National Gallery of Art. She is currently the book review editor for Studies in Conservation.
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CONSERVATION MATTERS IN WALES

Review by Rachel Robbins 14 June 2012, Cardiff, United Kingdom Organised by: Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and Cardiff University

The bi-annual conference Conservation Matters in Wales chose to focus its attention upon the theme Know your place: Conservators in projects. Specific project work is often viewed as a short-term solution between fixed employments and as a result, in some views, can carry several negative connotations. The conference set out to question these issues whilst showing the adaptability of the conservator in project work, highlighting the value of sharing expertise with other departments and the opportunity for a conservator to develop and build upon their skill set outside of the lab! The first speaker, Marie Jordan, a conservator for Newport City Council, spoke about her involvement as the sole conservator on the Newport Medieval ship that is currently going through its final stages of treatment. In Definitely Bigger than a Breadbox: Scaling Treatment Methods for the Newport Medieval Ship?, she spoke about the psychological implications on taking on a project of scale and how adaptability is key in this situation. The ability to jump from using a scalpel to a full two handed chisel lying under the vessel whilst still remaining completely confident and comfortable in using your tools is a necessity on a job of such scale. As the sole conservator, she was faced with making all key treatment decisions on her own and as result she described her role as being an advocate for the object when faced with balancing the quick the good and the cheap! As well as making
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all conservation decisions, she also detailed that the most valuable opportunity the project gave her was the chance to develop her people management skills. The second speaker, Bronwen Roberts, presented her talk on Finding my place: Maryhill Inventory Project, Glasgow. The talk focused upon her being the sole conservator in this vast inventory project. There were no set conservation aims at the start of the project, apart from the fact it was known a conservator was needed! The job spanned across five warehouses worth of objects and had two teams of documentation assistants and a photographer. The overall aim of the project was to create an online collection/database that was accessible to the general public. With this in mind, Bronwen prioritised her workload depending on the usefulness of any remedial conservation needed towards the collation of the inventory. This project fundamentally allowed Bronwen to write her own job description, setting her own aims and deciding on the key conservation priorities. She noted that a lot of time was spent at the start, getting to know the issues. Something of a luxury and certainly allowing a greater scope to manage the project as a whole. The The Kyffin Bequest: Collaboration, Creativity and Pragmatism talk was split between four speakers, Lona Mason, Pam Small, Kate Newton and Jenny Williamson, who each viewed the
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project from their varied roles and involvement. The Kyffin Bequest was a collection bequeathed to the National Library of Wales in 2006. This encompassed the late Sir Kyffin Williams artwork owned by himself, his collection of art by others, prints, and his archive. This project highlighted the need for adaptability, not only in terms of the role of the conservator, but also in terms of the building that the collection was going to be housed in. Due to the sheer quantity of paintings and prints, a new storage space was required within the National Library to house the newly acquired collection. Not only did the work need storing in the long term, but also needed to be accessible in the short term in order for essential work to be carried out. As a result, the needs of the collection were re-evaluated in the early stages of the project, specifically allowing visitor access to the collection. Budget management became key at this stage trying to incur no extra charges and make use of what was already available, adapting the resources instead of compromising the collection. All four speakers stressed the need to preserve the spirit of the collection, keeping the works together as a whole unit, due to the nature of the bequest. Several works were not signed, sections cut from the canvas and choice of materials had purposefully caused damage. The artists overall choice to leave the works in an outhouse store were a pointer towards the artists intentions towards the work. The artists wishes were felt to be paramount over any

From up to down: Sarah Lawrence, Ruth Jones and Marie Jordan, who spoke about the Newport Medieval ship. Jenny Gosling, Bronwen Roberts, who spoke about the Maryhill Inventory Project, and Amelia Drewdun. The team from the National Library of Wales who presented The Kyffin Bequest: Collaboration, Creativity and Pragmatism: Kate Newton, Lona Mason, Pam Small and Jenny Williamson. Diane Gwilt, from the National Museum Wales, Luisa Russo who spok about the KADMOS Project and Katrina Deering.

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REVIEWS

aesthetic integrity. The team had to work together in understanding these priorities. The first speaker after lunch was Maria Luisa Russo, from the University if Turin. Her talk focused upon the awareness of the conservators role on the project of dealing with the Paul Kahle fonds. The KADMOS (Kahle Documents Management, Organisation, Study) Project transcended between various professions, which allowed Marias role as the conservator to be highlighted as a necessary part of the team. She described fascination amongst the team when she began working in her lab coat and gloves, gimmick or not, it promoted the role of the conservator and potential involvement in future projects within the University departments. Due to the involvement of a conservator, more in-depth problems and issues could be identified. This, in turn, had an effect upon the project funding, and allowed some to be re-directed towards essential preventive measures to ensure accessibility and promotion of the archive, which were the ultimate aims. The fifth speaker, Nathan Otterson from the Guggenheim Museum in New York, focused on his involvement in the planning and installation of Maurizio Cattelan: All which went on display in the Guggenheim in November 2011. The installation including the majority of Maurizio Cattelans work since 1989, the works used came from the artist himself and from a vast amount of private collectors. Due to the nature of the artists methodology and value he places on his finished works, the project at times became a back and forth dialogue between the team and the artist. A very clear vision was in place for exactly how the works needed to be displayed and mounted. The conservator had to act as an advocate for the objects, juggling their individual conservation priorities and display options whilst still adhering to the artists intentions for the overall concept. The
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scale of the project involved a vast amount of planning, over eighteen months worth, and management of various teams, that on a smaller scale project might not necessary cross paths. Nathans role varied throughout the project, visiting each private collector to assess the condition of the chosen piece and to gain consent for use. Being the last person to sign off the safety and condition of the final installation a vast amount of responsibility was felt. Diane Gwilt, from the National Museum Wales was the final speaker of the day. In groups she asked us to discuss the pros and cons of project work. What came from this discussion was an abundance of advantages when involved in project work. For me personally, as a training conservator, the conference helped to dispel some of the negative issues surrounding project work that I had previously had. Instead, it highlighted the opportunities available to conservators who might not normally get the chance to build upon other valuable skill sets outside of the basic role. Projects would provide a chance to gain transferable management skills that could help in future employment opportunities, which seems of key importance in the current job climate today.

RACHEL ROBBINS Trainee Conservator Contact: rach_robbins131@hotmail.com Rachel Robbins is a training conservator, having recently completed the Graduate Diploma in Conservation Studies at the University of Lincoln. She will be returning in September to begin the MA in Conservation of Historic Objects. She is currently undertaking placements at Oxfordshire Museum Resource Centre and with the National Trust as a Conservation Assistant over the summer months between her studies.
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CMA4CH MEDITERRANEUM MEETING Use of Multivariate Analysis and Chemometrics in Cultural Heritage and Environment
Review by Luciano DAlessio and Pierina Ielpo 27-30 May 2012, Rome, Italy Organised by: Rome University, La Sapienza

The 4th biennal CMA4CH Mediterraneum Meeting was held in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy, from 27 to 30 May 2012. The four days event was carefully organized by the research group of professor Giovanni Visco of Rome University La Sapienza and colleagues and hosted at the P. Bisogno room of the National Research Council. This biennial meeting deals with multivariate analysis and chemometrics applications both to environmental and cultural heritage topics. In particular, it is aimed at building a bridge between researchers involved on environment and cultural heritage and chemometricians. Exhaustive information can be found at the webpage where details of previous editions are also shown. This edition included 33 works and 102 authors coming from 12 countries. As in the previous editions, the meeting was combined with the Multivariate Analysis Course, School for Novices, held from the 28th to the 30th of May 2012 and devoted mainly to the neophytes of the matter, although more advanced participants also benefited from the high level teaching. The meeting communications were organized in invited lectures (4), oral (21) and poster (9) presentations divided in five sessions on Cultural Heritage topics and three sessions on Environmental ones.
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The increase of welfare, technological development and consumption led to an increase of pollution. The effect this has on cultural heritage is degradation. A correct procedure for the conservation of cultural heritage must start with monitoring the macro and/or micro environments to recognize the main impact factors. This approach leads to a large and complex data matrix that cannot be treated by univariate methods. The application of different multivariate statistical technique for interpreting the complex databases offers a better and wide understanding of the problem under study. In fact, the advantages of multivariate statistical techniques for cultural heritage and environmental data can be summarized as to: reflect more accurately the multivariate nature of natural and /or environmental systems; provide a way to handle large data sets with large numbers of variables by summarizing the redundancy; and provide means of detecting and quantifying truly multivariate patterns that arise out of the correlation structure of the variable set. Going over the meeting abstracts one can find applications of chemometrics as well obtaining exhaustive information about material degradation and micro-environmental quality. There are, for example, studies about the identification of artistic pigments by pattern recognition which can
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REVIEWS

Visiting the excavation of Palazzo Valentini.

help identifying painting techniques; classification of objects, such as ceramic artifacts and clays, and their provenience; discrimination of objects composition such as ancient bronzes dating back from the Neolithic period to the end of Bronze Age, etc. Among the participants of the CMA4CH meeting, one could find both experts in chemometrics applications and people that approach the multivariate statistical methods for the first time. The leitmotiv of the meeting could be summarized in the following sentence: In a multivariate world, lets exchange our experience in the advanced statistical methods. Among the meeting participants, we want to highlight the inaugural and invited lecture of R.G. Brereton, Professor of Chemometrics and Director of the Centre for Chemometrics of Bristol University, who spoke about the quantitative application of self-organizing maps applied to NMR study of saliva metabolites and fungal degradation of apples. Other chairmen were prof. A. Montenero
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from Parma University and Dr. Barry M. Wise, president and co-Founder of Eigenvector Research, Inc. The meeting opening and welcome ceremony were hosted, on Sunday evening, at Casa dellAviatore, the officers club of Italian air force, close to La Sapienza University and meeting venue. The organizing committee decided to draw prizes among the participants in a ceremony that took place at the end of the first day at Bar Leonardi. The ceremony, held in a cheerful and convivial environment, included a tasty cake offered to the meeting participants from cake shop Paci, very famous in San Lorenzo quarter. The prizes abundance, which are offered by the sponsors, is a distinctive trait of CMA4CH. This time, they consisted of 21 books, an USB memory stick filled with multi-variate/chemometrics software and one PLS tool-box and MIA software (from Eigenvector Research, Inc.). Another eight books were offered to students attending the Course Multivariate Analysis Course, School for Novices.
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REVIEWS

From left to right:The original colour picture of Pollock; the same image converted in binary black and white dots; the log-log plot of the binary image showing a fractal scaling and the value of the box dimension.

In the second day, the program included outdoor activities such as a visit to Palazzo Valentini. Standing in the center of Piazza dei Santi Apostoli, in front of the building of Provincia di Roma, one cannot imagine the beauty of the treasures underground. After descending some stairs, the visitor is found fluctuating three meters above a fourth century B.C. thermal plant, an ancient spa with lead plumbing, baths, saunas which belongs to the remains of a very rich Roman house, presumably from a senator or a dignitary of the imperial court. Concerning the original contributions, two cases can be highlighted. The first is Everything is fractal by prof. DAlessio. It is known that Jackson Pollock's paintings have a fractal dimension. However, it has been only recently discovered that this dimension increases gradually with time, which can be exploited for authentication and dating purposes. The author applied the box-counting method to the outline to Jackson Pollocks Number 18. The log-log plot of the binary converted image showed a clear fractal scaling with a fractal dimension of about 1.75. Interestingly, it was highlighted that this application was only an example of the potential of this technique. In the same way, anyone can measure the irregularity of every other fractal object taking a digitalized image of it.
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Other applications can be made in the study of rock porosity, paper foxing, degradation of glass and plastic materials. It is hoped that in the future people will apply this tool more widely in the field of cultural heritage. As mentioned above, the meeting deals with applications to environmental data as well. Among the presentations, Gaseous Pollutants and PM10 Trends from Monitoring Networks in Bari Province: PCA and APCS Applications on Two Years and Half Data Set by P. Ielpo, V. Paolillo, and G. de Gennaro wan the Best Overall Presentation. The presentation showed an example of the use of statistical models in the interpretation of atmospheric pollution and identification of pollutants sources. The paper deals with the trends of atmospheric pollutants collected for two and half years in six monitoring stations in Bari, Italy. The model identified three recurrent sources, associated with traffic and particulate transport. The poster session was held during the last day of the meeting. In front of each poster, its author presented their results to the other participants. Among the posters,a study of the effect of drug packages on the degradation of pharmaceutical active substances, by D. Ruiu, M. Castrucci, G.
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REVIEWS

Participants to the 2012 Chemometric Course.

Visco, and L. Campanella from the Department of Chemistry at La Sapienza University, Italy received an honorable mention. As stated by the organizers, this is a small conference to help building a bridge between researchers involved on cultural heritage, conservators and chemometricians which, in our opinion, was achieved with success. The next meeting is scheduled for 1-4 June 2014 in Ischia, Italy.

of Basilicata, Potenza. His research interests span from thin film deposition by pulsed laser ablation to chaos, fractals, dynamic systems, cellular automata and elastic properties of macro-molecules. In recent years he has been studying complexity in paintings and architecture, and its applications to the valorization of works of art.

PIERINA IELPO Chemist Contact: piera.ielpo@ba.irsa.cnr.it LUCIANO DALESSIO Chemist Contact: luciano.dalessio@unibas.it Luciano DAlessio graduated in Chemistry in 1975 at the University of Rome where he worked as coordinator of a research team in the field of molecular spectroscopy. Since 1992 he is Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University
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Pierina Ielpo graduated in Chemistry at Bari University and obtained her PhD degree in Environmental Sciences on 2004. Since 2008, she works as researcher at the Water Research Institute (Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque) IRSA-CNR, Bari Division, Italy. She is also an external staff scientist researcher at Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Lecce division (Italy).
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interview

INTERVIEW

INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION WORKSHOP LOPUD: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

By Sagita Mirjam Sunara

The International Conservation Workshop Lopud (ICWL) is a collaborative project of four European graduate programs in conservation-restoration: the Institute for Conservation Sciences of the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne (Germany), the Arts Academy of the University of Split (Croatia), the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Belgium) and the National School of Visual Arts in Brussels (Belgium). Started in 2003, the project focuses on conservation of wooden polychrome altarpieces in two churches on the Lopud Island in Croatia, the church of Our Lady of unj and the church of Our Lady of Spilice. Several textile objects and pieces of church furniture have been treated, as well. The idea of a workshop that enables art conservation students to learn and develop practical skills through safeguarding endangered heritage of the island of Lopud was born in the late eighties, when dr. Karlfriedrich Lange von Stocmeier, chancellor of the University of the Applied Sciences in Cologne, learned about the sad state of Lopud's sacral monuments. In 1987, the first group of German students came to the island, headed by professor Knut Nicolaus. In the following years objects from the parish museum were treated. During Croatia's civil war (1991-1995) all activities seized. The workshop continued in 1997, when German students, lead by professor Ingo Sandner, undertook the conservation of a 16th century altarpiece in the Dominican church of St. Nicolas. The altarpiece had been torn apart and its pieces, most of them badly damaged, were
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scattered over several locations. After the completion of the project in 2001, the group moved to the church of Our Lady of unj. Professors Hans Portsteffen and Andreas Krupa, now in charge of the workshop, were eager to make it an international project. Finally, in 2003 ICWL started. When the conservation works on one of the sidealtarpieces in Our Lady of unj were brought to an end, two altarpieces from the church of Our Lady of Spilice were included in the project. ICWL takes place annually and lasts for two weeks. Students work under the mentorship of professors and the workshop usually has 25 participants. Securing financial support for the project is often a challenging task. Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia provides only part of the funding (lodging and meals). Institutions that take part in the project cover the travel and living expenses and provide conservation materials. The support of people of Lopud, especially those gathered around Association for the Protection of Lopud's Cultural Heritage and Nature, is crucial. Collaboration has also been established with local institutions: the Conservation Department of the Ministry of Culture in Dubrovnik and the Croatian Conservation Institute Department in Dubrovnik. ICWL provides great learning opportunity for students. Organizing the working space, assigning tasks and responsibilities, dealing with diverse conservation-restoration problems and taking part in the complex decision-making process are
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INTERVIEW

Top: Catherine Balteau (left) from Brussels, Belgium and Frances Berry (right) from Antwerp, Belgium. Below: Saskia Mench from Cologne, Germany.

Jelena Zagora from Split, Croatia.

just some of the challenges that the participants of the ICWL face every year. Another important aspect of the workshop is the opportunity to meet new people, establish professional contacts and make friendships. Four students who participated in the 2011 campaign shared their impressions and thoughts on the ICWL: Frances Berry (Antwerp), Catherine Balteau (Brussels), Saskia Mench (Cologne) and Jelena Zagora (Split).

What is your background? Saskia: I have finished my second year at the Institute for Conservation Sciences in Cologne. My specialization is in paintings, polychrome sculptures and modern art. My private interests are more in the modern and contemporary arts.
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Frances: I have just finished my third year of the Bachelor diploma in conservation and restoration at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. I am specializing in conservation and restoration of wood and polychromed surfaces. Jelena: I study conservation and restoration of easel paintings and polychromed wood at the Arts Academy in Split. I have completed my fifth year and my interest is in art historical research of paintings, painting technology and retouching techniques. Catherine: I hold an MA in Art History. While I was studying art history, I realized that I wanted to get closer to the magic of the artworks, to reach the depth of the artwork, so to speak, so I enrolled in the master's program in conservation and restoration at the National School of Visual Arts La Cambre in Brussels. I graduated in June 2011, specializing in the conservation of sculpture.
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INTERVIEW

Participants of the ICWL in Our Lady of Spilice.

How were you selected for ICWL 2011? Jelena: In Split, we don't have many students who specialize in conservation of easel paintings and polychromed wood. Each year, two or three students are selected, but all 4th and 5th year students eventually get to go to Lopud. Frances: I expressed an interest in participating in the ICWL after the possibility had been verbally communicated to the students. I had to submit a motivation letter to support my application. Saskia: In our school there is a list for everyone who is interested in participating in the ICWL. Students who haven't been to the island in earlier years are preferred. Three or four students are selected from the list by a lottery. Catherine: At my school, two students are offered to participate in ICWL; one specializing in paintings conservation, and the other in sculpture conservation. A draw was organized at the Sculpture Conservation Studio in 2011, and I was the lucky winner. One student from the Paper Conservation Studio was also asked to join the project, because of the specific construction technology of the
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sculpture of Christ from the Holy Cross altarpiece in the church Our Lady of unj.

Every year, students are divided into groups and each group is assigned a different task. How did you choose your working group? Catherine: I think it was three years ago that I first heard about the sculpture of Christ from Lopud; an object made of an unusual material, the plant called Ferula communis L. It is because of this sculpture that I came to Lopud. Naturally, this was the group I wanted to work in. Frances: I tried not to set my mind on a particular project before I went, because I suspected particular projects would be more popular than others. For me, the most important thing was to work with teachers from other schools to have an idea of different concepts and approaches, and this is what I did. I joined the team that was working on the documentation of the altarpieces in the church Gospa od Spilice. Jelena: I wanted to learn something new, so the
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INTERVIEW

Retouching the Holy Cross altarpiece in Our Lady of unj.

first week I joined Frances' group. We were documenting the as-found condition of the two sidealtarpieces. I haven't had experience with this so far, as I've mostly worked on polychromed sculptures and canvas paintings, doing a lot of filling in and retouching. I wanted to get some experience in cleaning, too, so the second week I joined the team that worked on the sculpture of Christ in the church Gospa od unja. Saskia: I couldnt really decide what I wanted to do, so I chose the group with the least people.

conservation project developed over the years, to listen to the discussions about concepts and to see the actual outcome. It was the first time for me to retouch with dry pigments and binder and I was surprised how well it worked. Frances: I learnt the importance of communication within a group and between the different disciplines.

Did you learn anything new? Catherine: I worked on the sculpture of the Crucified Christ. Because it's such a complex object, the conservation treatment was different from anything I've ever had the opportunity to do. Furthermore, this was the first time I worked in situ and with an international team. Jelena: I worked in two different groups, on projects that were quite new to me. I gained a lot of practical knowledge. Saskia: It was interesting to learn how the
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Many questions arise during the course of the conservation treatment, so group discussions are regularly organized. Do you feel it is important to discuss each step of the work? Frances: These discussions are important to highlight that opinions and concepts regarding the treatment of objects have changed during the (relatively short) duration of the Lopud project. Saskia: It can be very hard if there are too many different opinions but it really helps to see things from every angle and to be aware of all aspects. Frances: I agree. Discussions can be most fruitful in small groups, where the participants feel less
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INTERVIEW

Students presenting the results of the work on the Christ sculpture.

inhibited to question methods and challenge one another. Catherine: I would like to add to this that constructive remarks can improve one's work.

Different countries have different approach to conservation. Every year, there is a lot of discussion about the minimal and moderate intervention, a concept applied on the two side-altarpieces in the church Our Lady of unj. What is your opinion on this approach? Does it differ from what you do at your school? How would you explain this concept to someone who was not familiar with it? Saskia: It isnt easy to explain the concept to someone who is not familiar with conservation concepts. I think the best way to explain it, is to say less is more. That is the basic idea of the concept, to achieve a good condition but trying to touch the original substance as less as possible. The result should be a well-preserved and conserved object that will stay in a stable condition for a long time.
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Frances: For me, minimal intervention is about postponing the deterioration of an object. A moderate intervention goes further and can, for example, strengthen the object, allowing further use as well as further decay. These concepts are relating to conservation and this is different to restoration. Catherine: It is not only to respect in the best way the material life of the artwork, from its creation to the present, but also to stand in front of it with humility. Jelena: Although I am aware that sometimes much more than moderate intervention has to be applied to preserve the artefact, I completely agree with the minimal intervention concept because it complies with authenticity. Why take more of authenticity than necessary? Frances: From what I saw in Lopud and Croatia, the approach to conservation and restoration is a bit different to what I have so far experienced at my school in Belgium. Some of the restorations in Croatia were easier to detect than those I have seen in Belgium. I got the impression that the interventions were possibly more hands on in
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INTERVIEW

Cleaning the Christ sculpture of Our Lady of Sunja.

Croatia, and that interventions are carried out more openly. Jelena: At the Conservation-Restoration Department of the Arts Academy in Split, we're trying to follow the principle of minimal intervention. In some cases, however, a compromise solution has to be found, for example, if you have a badly damaged object or if the owner insists that the object be treated to a greater extent. Saskia: The concept of minimal intervention is applied often at my school, that way I already participated in some discussions about it. I like the idea of the concept very much and I think I support it most of the time. But in the everyday practice it is very hard to realize concepts with minimal intervention. Usually, even if the concept was planned for the object, it changes during the conservation works and it is often the case that in the end there were more interventions done than originally planned. I like the direction conservation work is going and I think the concept will get more "popular" and be more recognized.
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What were the experiences of your colleagues who participated in previous conservation workshops on Lopud? Catherine: Every year, students return from Lopud delighted. They are taken by the charm of the island, its inhabitants, the conservation work, the colleagues, the organization of the project... Jelena: The only complaints were about the unstable weather. Everything else organization, knowledge transfer and accommodation was said to be excellent. Saskia: Everyone at my school experienced a very good time, had fun with the colleagues from the other schools and collected many practical experiences. What were the greatest benefits of participating in ICWL? Jelena: Networking, opportunities for visits, professional collaboration, Erasmus exchange There's a mailing list of all participants students and professors and some collaborations have
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INTERVIEW

already been arranged. Frances: For me, the ICWL was a fantastic opportunity to meet future colleagues, collaborate with professionals and feel reassured that there was a collective goal. And above all, its made me really want to get involved in a wider range of projects in the future. Saskia: The greatest benefit, for me, was to meet so many other students and professors from other institutes. Every one of them is really good at what he or she is doing and it has been a pleasure to work with them. Catherine: I think it's amazing to have ten teachers instructing fifteen students moreover, ten teachers from different schools, with different work experience and methods of instruction. The same goes for the students, who can share their knowledge and experiences during these two weeks. The fact that the workshop is in English is also a chance to practice the language and enrich the vocabulary and oral expression. Last, but not least, the time I spent on this beautiful island allowed me to "recharge my batteries". Acknowledgements The author is grateful to professor Hans Portsteffen of the Cologne Institute for Conservation Sciences, for his corrections of the manuscript.

SAGITA MIRJAM SUNARA

Conservator-restorer Contact: sagita.sunara@gmail.com Sagita Mirjam Sunara is a conservator-restorer of easel paintings and polychromed wood. She works as an assistant professor at the Department for Conservation and Restoration at the Arts Academy of the University of Split, teaching about research and documentation, preventive conservation, easel paintings conservation and restoration and doing practical conservation work with MA students.
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Overview of the works in Our Lady of unj.

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AREAS OF PUBLISHING Conservation Treatment

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article

methodology

BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

technical examination and restoration process

By Damian Lizun

BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

This paper describes the technical examination and restoration treatment of a British Carlo Maratta style frame. The frame belongs to the 1867 oil canvas painting of Joseph Poulter Mackesy by Catterson Smith. The preservation state of the frame was very poor. It was renovated on one occasion and suffered several areas of substantial loss. The technical examination of the frame was conducted using cross section and polarized light microscopy. Examination was focused on establishing the history of the frame and original gilding techniques. The core treatments consisted of surface cleaning, consolidation, filling and replacement of the losses and in-gilding. A full set of photographs was taken before, during and after treatment to document step-by-step the restoration procedure.

Introduction The frame with painting belongs to the Waterford Museum of Treasures in Waterford, Ireland and is exhibited in the main stair hall of the museum. It was designed and created probably in 1867 or shortly after1 for the full scale portrait of Joseph Poulter Mackesy by Catterson Smith. The maker of the frame is unknown. Its dimensions are 191 x 283 x 12 cm (WxHxD). Its distinctive profile is decorated with four passages of independently carved and gilded ornaments. The main decoration includes the torus ornament which is carved with bunches of oak leaf-and-acorn, banded at the corners and cross-banded at the centres. The acanthus leaf-and-shell decoration was placed in the depth of the front hollow. The decoration along the back and sight edges is represented by the stylised leaf-and-tongue ornaments. This type of design is the enriched version of the Carlo Maratta style. The style first appeared in Naples in 1660 and came to England with the Grand Tour where it was widely used from 1750 to the end of the century, surviving in its carved version until the 1820s and beyond that in a plaster version. In no other country than Italy was the Carlo Maratta so popular as in Britain, where it became a particularly British style for picture framing [1]. In Italy, this type of frame is usually known as a Salvator Rosa after the Italian artist to whom the design is
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attributed [2]. Due to close social relations with Britain this framing style become naturally popular in Ireland. The Carlo Maratta frames were very economical as they could be bought readymade or quickly made to measure, because there were no complications of corner ornaments [3].

Materials and Technique The four construction elements are mitre joined with the internal wood splines in grooves along the length of the mitre. Additional screws were added across the mitre to secure the corner joints. The screws are 18 cm long and have a 15 mm diameter. The framer marked all corners by chiselling the numbers I-IV. Also the screws were numbered in the same way to assure the correct assemblage. The four construction elements were assembled after the gesso and gilding were applied. The carved ornaments were gilded independently and have been added to the frame to create an impressive sense of decoration. All bands of the ornaments are mitred at the corners and were originally attached to the frame by means of solid nails.

1 An inscription on the frames plaque indicates that the pain-

ting was executed in 1867. This date suggests the time when the frame was created.

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DAMIAN LIZUN

Figure 1. Carlo Maratta style frame dating from approximately 1867. The frame is original to the painting of Joseph Poulter Mackesy by Catterson Smith. The image shows the frame with painting before the intervention.

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BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

The original gesso was based on the traditional composition of animal protein glue and chalk2. After gesso application and smoothing, a re-cutting of greater detail was executed. Then, layers of bole were applied on top of the gesso before gold was put on. The microscopic examination of cross sections3 of the gilded layers revealed that the gilder used three colours of bole. The surfaces intended to be oil matte gilded such as back hollow and ornaments were prepared with a thin coat of a yellow bole. The front hollow, sight edge, slip, narrow astragal and cross-bands on the torus ornament that were intended to be burnished were thickly brushed with a red bole. The astragal and ribbons were given an extra coat of a blue bole over the red. The pigment identified in the blue bole was Prussian blue4 [4]. The colour of the bole is very important as it lies directly beneath the gold leaf and its colour influences the final appearance of the gold. Red bole adds a warm glow to the gilded surface. Yellow bole blends with the gold in deeply carved areas where it is difficult to gild, making ungilded areas or imperfections less noticeable [5]. Blue bole provides a colder tone than red. Once the bole has dried and been smoothed, the gilding was executed in both water and oil finishes. Real gold5 [6] was detected

in the area of torus decoration and back hollow. The original wooden plaque was gilded in a water gilding technique on a red bole. The lettering was executed with a black oil paint through a stencil. The gilding finish represents a very high standard of workmanship. The gilder applied the gold leaf with confidence, in a very skilled way. The observation of the frame mouldings after dismantling of the ornaments revealed that the gilder applied the bole and then gold leaf only on the areas visible by the viewer. Wide areas of gesso covered by the ornaments were left untreated.

Condition Assessment Before Treatment The frame was in very poor preservation state. There was a significant accumulation of dust and grime on the surface. The gilded finish was additionally disfigured by darkened animal protein glue glaze. The glazing was a renovation treatment focused on the refreshment of the frame6. Preliminary examination by eye and magnifying lens revealed that the glaze was applied unevenly, omitting some difficult to reach surfaces. All bands of the ornament were originally attached to

2 The natural formation of the chalk was confirmed by the

presence of microfossils like elliptical and circular structures of coccoliths. Observation was done by means of light microscopy.
3 Gilded decoration cross-sections were embedded in self-curing

acrylic dentist resin Estetic S supplied by Wident, Poland.

4 Prussian blue pigment was discovered about 1704 and become

well known all over Europe by 1750. The pigment was identified by means of polarised light microscopy using a methodology developed by P. and A. Mactaggart [4].
5 A small sample of foil was dissolved in aqua regia with heat

acid, in a volumetric ratio of 1:3 respectively on glass slide. The foil was dissolved completely. Then, a dry residue was dissolved in one drop of the 2M HCl (hydrochloric acid). The product of the reaction was AuCl3 [gold (III) chloride], traditionally called auric chloride. Next, RbCl (rubidium chloride) was added to this chemical compound. After a few moments characteristic yellow crystals turned up. Gold identification was carried out using a scheme of micro-chemical tests developed by P. Rudniewski [6].
6 The examination and restoration of three other period frames

added during the reaction. The mixture is formed by freshly mixing concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric
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from the Waterford Museum of Treasures collection revealed that they were treated in the same way. Same poor quality glazing was found on two XVIII century Louis XV and one XIX century Carlo Maratta frames.

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DAMIAN LIZUN

Figure 2. Detail of the top section of the frame before the intervention.

Figure 3. Close-up of the top-left corner of the frame before the intervention.

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BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

Figure 4. Detail of the bottom-left corner of the frame. The image shows the original, purpose made screw added across the mitre to secure the corner joint.

Figure 5 (above). Bottom section of the frame after dismantling of the plaque. The image shows the spectrum of all technological layers (wood-gesso-bole-gold leaf). Figure 6 (below). Close-up of the bottom section of the frame after dismantling of the plaque. The image shows the colour order of the bole layers.

the frame by means of nails. The nails corroded and became weak resulting in partial or total detachment of the ornaments from the frame. There were several areas of substantial loss in the ornamental decoration including front hollow acanthus leaf-and-shell and back edge leaf-andtongue. The top section of the acanthus leaf-andshell ornament was completely detached. A leafand-tongue decorative pattern which runs along the back edge was in a very poor state of preservation. Much of the ornament was missing. Only a 150 cm long section remained. A number of losses to the gilding and white gesso were found on the surface of the frame. Abrasions were visible along all sides of the frame and edges of the decoration. The original frame plaque also showed a poor state of preservation. The gilded surface was
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extensively worn and was characterized by advanced gesso flaking. The black lettering was so worn that the gold background and red bole were visible. The back of the frame was very dirty. The structural condition of wood and joints was good. No evidence of woodworm was observed. Two original, iron hanging devices were very dirty and corroded.

Treatment Decisions The goal of the treatment was to produce a consistent appearance that would allow the remaining original gilding to represent itself well. The technical condition of the frame and its decoration had to be improved. The core treatment consisted
55

DAMIAN LIZUN

Figure 7 (above). Close-up of the left section of the frame during surface dirt and renovation glaze removal. Figure 8 (below). The same area after dismantling the decoration. The gilder applied the bole and then gold leafs selectively only on the visible areas.

Figure 9 (above). The ornaments after filling the losses of the gesso layer. Figure 10 (below). Close-up of the top section of the frame after the restoration.

of surface cleaning of the front and back and removal of the last renovation protein glue glaze. The next important decision was to replace the missing ornaments. Finally the gilded finish had to be restored. This task had to be carried out with respect for the original material and according to the original technique.

Conservation Treatment The treatment procedure began by carefully dismantling and photo-documenting the frames four sections. The procedure was straightforward as the original screws were well preserved. Dismantling of the frame was necessary for two reasons. Firstly, due to its extreme weight, it was safer for the object and conservator to have
56

unlimited and easy access to all sides of the frame. Secondly, it helped to understand the construction of the frame. Next, the carved decoration patterns and the plaque were gently detached from the frame profiles. All nails were extracted from the profiles and decoration. After dismantling, a gentle, initial cleaning of the frame was carried out. Loose surface dust was removed by dry cleaning with a soft brush under low powered vacuum. The areas of flaking gesso were successfully secured with 4% solution of hot rabbit skin glue, applied with a small brush without contacting the gilded surface. Further cleaning of the wooden surface of the back of the frame was achieved using 15% Vulpex Liquid Soap in white spirit. Two original iron hanging devices attached to the top section from the back required cleaning and surface rust removal. This
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BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

Figure 11 (above). Detail of the top-left corner of the frame after the restoration. Figure 12 (below). The original plaque with the information on the painting after the restoration.

Figure 13. Frame with painting after the restoration.

was done using Biox Conservation Liquid and then polished with a grade four steel wool. Finally, the metal surface was brushed twice with 10% Paraloid B44 in acetone. The removal of the non-original protein based glaze from the water gilded surfaces was achieved using a solution of dichloromethane with ethyl formate and formic acid in ratio 1:1:0.5. In some difficult areas mechanical removal was the only option. Removal of glaze by scraping with a scalpel blade was laborious. The surface dirt from the oil gilded areas was removed with 5% triammonium citrate in distilled water. The wood repairs were made with the two-part epoxy resin system Araldite AV 1253 with hardener HV 1253. Broken and loose fragments of the
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carved decoration were joined together using Araldite AW 106 with Hardener HV 953U. Missing details of the ornaments were replicated by woodcarving and making moulds from the existing elements with Steramould Moulding Compound, non-viscous and quick setting, silicone moulding product. Araldite 1253 epoxy paste was cast into the moulds to produce replacement parts. The new carved elements and Araldite fills were given five coats of traditional gesso and were smoothed in preparation for gilding. Losses of the original gesso layer were degreased with acetone and then brushed with 4% hot rabbit glue to improve adhesion to the new fills. Next, they were refilled with an appropriate traditional type gesso made of chalk and rabbit glue in a 10% ratio.
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DAMIAN LIZUN

The areas for oil matte gilding were brushed with one coat of yellow acrylic paint and then insulated by application of 10% bleached shellac to limit the absorbency. Then, a mixtion was brushed on and new gold leafs applied. Finally all new matte oil gilding surfaces were toned in order to match the original gold. The conservation of the plaque was technically similar to the treatments on the frame. After surface dirt removal, the flaking gesso was stabilised with 4% solution of hot rabbit skin glue. Losses of the original gesso surface were refilled with a new gesso made of chalk and rabbit glue in a 10% ratio, and then all fills were prepared by application of a new red bole in 7% rabbit glue. Next, the prepared surfaces were gilded in water gilding technique. Finally, the gilded surfaces were polished with an agate stone and toned. The lettering was reconstructed with ivory black oil paint. The ornamental decoration and plaque were reinstalled after the treatments on the frame sections using brass oval head screws. The frame sections with decoration were reassembled in the museums gallery where the original painting was finally framed.

Figure 14 (above). Cross-section of gilded decoration from the frame finish photographed in reflected light (magnification 100x). This sample was taken from the torus decoration. 1-gesso; 2-yellow bole; 3-gold particles; 4-dirt layer. Figure 15 (below). Cross-section of gilded decoration from the frame finish photographed in reflected light (magnification 100x). This sample was taken from the astragal. 1-gesso; 2-red bole; 3-blue bole; 4-gold particles; 5-dirt.

In the next stage the original water gilded surfaces were re-polished with an agate stone. A new bole, similar to the original, mixed with 7% rabbit glue, was applied on all fills and areas of badly worn original gold with bole. Next, gold leafs were applied using the water gilding technique. Finally the surfaces were burnished with the agate stone to a glistering lustre and then toned in order to match the original gold on the most representative areas of the decorative finish. Very fine linen cloth, bristle brushes and fibre glass sticks of varying thickness were used to achieve the desired effect.
58

Conclusions The work on the frame was very challenging due to the large scale and conservation issues. The fact that the frame was intended to be displayed in the most representative space put an extra pressure on the conservator. The frame represented many of the restoration problems typical of gilded objects. The technical macro and micro examination of the frame gave an insight into the technique of the framer and helped to design the proper treatments. The successful cleaning, the
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BRITISH CARLO MARATTA PICTURE FRAME

reconstruction of the ornaments and further comprehensive gilding processes have re-established the missing coherence of the frame.

References [1] J. Simon, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, National Portrait Gallery, 1996, p. 65 [2] T. J. Newbery, Frames and Framings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2002, p. 48 [3] P. Mitchell, L. Roberts, A History of European Picture Frames, Paul Mitchell Ltd., in Association with Merrell Holberton, London, 1996, p.65 [4] P. Mactaggart, A. Mactaggart, A Pigment Microscopists Notebook, 7th rev., published by the authors, Somerset, 1998 [5] P. Mactaggart, A. Mactaggart, Practical gilding, Archetype, London, 2005, p. 41 [6] P. Rudniewski, Pigmenty i ich identyfikacja, Akademia Sztuk Piknych, Warszawa, 1999

DAMIAN LIZUN
Conservator-restorer Contact: d.lizun@fineartconservation.ie Damian Lizun received MA in Conservation and Restoration of Paintings and Polychrome Sculpture from Nicholas Copernicus University, Torun, Poland in 2001. Over ten years he has worked on the conservation of easel paintings, frames and polychrome sculpture both from private and public collections in Poland and Ireland.
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STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF THE PAINTING "PAUL III AND RANZIO FARNESE" BY PARMIGIANINO

By Fatma Helmi Osama El-Feky Yasmeen Alam Eldin

CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

The oil painting "Paul III and Ranzio Farnese" by Parmigianino belongs to the collection of the Al-Gezira Museum, Egypt. The panel painting presented several deterioration aspects such as insect infestation, warping, darkening, cracks and ground layer losses which justified its conservation. Prior to the intervention, light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the painting. These techniques allowed the identification of the materials used: the wooden panel is poplar wood, the ground layer contains gypsum and animal glue and the medium is linseed oil. Concerning the pigments, cuprorivaite, massicot, hydrocerussite, cerussite, litharge, carbon and cupric oxide were identified. After the material characterization, both the painting and its frame were subjected to conservation.

Introduction The undated painting "Paul III and Ranzio Farnese" is in storage at the Al-Gezira Museum, located in the Cairo Opera House grounds in Cairo, Egypt. It was painted by the famous Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker Girolamo Francesco Mazzola (1503-1540), more known as Parmigianino or Parmigiano. The name Parmigianino is derived from his birthplace, Parma. The oil painting (registration number 259) is a portrait of Pope Paul III (14681549) where he appears sitting and at his right side, standing, is Ranzio Farnese (Figure 1). The painting is 191 133 x 2.8 cm and it was painted on wooden panels. The painting consists of five wooden boards joined with animal glue, supported by keys and three wooden girders (Figure 2). The oil painting is fixed on a wood frame which is gilded although it has some parts coloured with yellow ochre. The oil painting had already been restored before but the restoration did not withstand the test of time. The painting presents several deteriorations which include darkening of the varnish layer and streamlines in several parts of the varnish caused by excess varnish. Moreover, a fine network of cracks (craquelure) is present through the varnish, paint and ground layers (Figure 3). In addition,
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large amounts of dirt and dust are deposited on the painting surface which can cause the painting to deteriorate further. Some parts of the paint layer were detached from the ground layer (Figure 4) and other small pieces of paint layer and ground layer were missing. In some parts of the painting, the paint layer also presented wrinkling. The wood support presents signs of insect infestation as well as deformation of the panels: the wood was bent, presented warping of its boards as well as cracks. The support backside was darkened, scratched and presented material losses (Figure 5). The aim of the present work is, first, to characterize the painting materials and, thus, to contribute to the study of the artist technique and, second, to carry out conservation intervention to assure the best preservation possible of the painting.

Materials and Methods Micro-fragments of the oil painting (smaller than 1 mm2) were collected from the white ground and main pigmented areas. The samples were studied by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray
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FATMA HELMI et al.

Figure 1. "Paul III and Ranzio Farnese" by Parmigianino before intervention. Figure 3 (below). Craquelure of the paint system. Figure 4 (bottom). Example of missing parts of the paint layer.

Figure 2. Backside of the painting before intervention.

Figure 5. Cracks present in the wood support.

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CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

Figure 7. SEM micrographs show the previous consolidation material of the wooden support.

Figure 6. Microphotograph of the wooden support: vertical (left) and horizontal (right) sections.
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(EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to characterize the materials used and the deterioration of the painting surface. SEM-EDX was made using a JEOL 6400 microscope. XRD was performed with a Philips PW/1840 with Ni filter, Cu-K radiation at 40 KV. FTIR analysis using KBr pellets was carried out with a FTIR Nicolet Nexus 670 infrared spectrometer to identify the ground layer binder, the paint layer medium, and the varnish.
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Table I. XRD results of the ground and paint layers.

Sample Ground layer Blue colour Yellow colour

Compounds Gypsum Calcium Copper Silicate (cuprorivaite) Calcium Carbonate Lead Oxide (Massicot) Lead Hydroxide Lead Carbonate Hydroxide (hydrocerussite) Calcium Copper Silicate (cuprorivaite) Calcium Lead Carbonate Hydroxide (hydrocerussite) Lead Oxide (Litharge) Lead Oxide (Massicot) Lead Carbonate (cerussite) Lead Hydroxide Carbon (Graphite) Copper (II) Oxide

Chemical Composition CaSO4.2H2O CaCuSi4O10 CaCO3 PbO Pb(OH)2 Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 CaCuSi4O10 Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 PbO PbO PbCO3 Pb(OH)2 C CuO

Card No. 33-0311 12-0512 17-0763 05-0570 11-0270 13-0131 12-0512 13-0131 5-0561 05-0570 05-0417 11-0270 13-0148 5-0661

Paint Layer

Green colour

White colour Black colour

Table II. EDX results of the ground and paint layers.

Sample Ground layer Blue colour Yellow colour Paint Layer Green colour White colour Black colour

Elements (%) Ca (13.45), S (09.12), O (33.89) Cu (00.57), C (59.31), O (21.31), Si (00.99), Ca (11.29) Pb (22.92), O (48.31), C(48.31) Si (01.45), Ca (02.29), Cu (00.20), Pb (04.27), O (13.0) Pb (84.39), C (28.38), O (16.21) C (80.76), Cu (00.73)

Material Characterisation The microscopic examination of the wood samples revealed that the wood is poplar (populus spp.) (Figure 6) and that it was consolidated during a previous restoration process (Figure 7). Also, the presence of fine cracks was detected in some parts of the paint and varnish layers (Figure 8).
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Analyses performed by XRD and EDX allowed to identify the ground and paint layers materials. XRD results are summarised in Table I, and the elements of the ground and paint layers analysed by EDX are shown in Table II. FTIR confirmed that animal glue was used as binder in the ground layer. In the analysis, the sample
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CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

Figure 8. Stereomicroscope view at 60x show cracks in the paint and varnish layers.

Figure 9. FTIR spectra of the binder used in the ground layer of the oil painting: new animal glue (a) and ground layer (b).

Figure 10. FTIR spectra of the medium used in the paint layer of the oil painting: new linseed oil (a)and paint layer (b).

Table III. Stretching and bending absorptions of the proteins bands of animal glue.

Table IV. Shows the stretching and bending absorptions of dry linseed oil.

Peaks Absorption Bands Functional groups (cm-1) 1 2 3,5 4 6 7 8, 9 3404.7 3406 2928.3/2870.5 2922.5 1809 1518 666\1098 Amide Group (NH2) Amide Group (NH2) CH3, CH3 /CH2 Group CH3, CH3 /CH2 Group Bonding N-H amide SO42- Group Carbonyl Group

Peaks Absorption Bands (cm-1) 1 2 3,4 5 6, 7 8 3404.7 2929 2851/2856 1419.35 1115/1042.6 779

Functional groups Free COOH (fatty acid) C-H Stretching Vibration Triglyceride ester linkage (CH2)n Group Vibration
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FATMA HELMI et al.

Figure 11 (upper).FTIR spectra of the varnish layer. Figure 12 (lower). Disinfestation process of the oil painting.

Figure 13 (upper).Cleaning the surface of the oil painting. Figure 14 (lower). The painting was left for a week to retake its natural position.

was compared with a new sample of animal glue (Figure 9). The common peaks are shown in Table III. Moreover, the paint medium was identified as being linseed oil, also by comparison with a new sample of linseed oil (Figure 10, Table IV). FTIR analysis also confirmed that the varnish is a synthetic resin (Figure 11), probably applied during its last restoration.
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Painting Conservation Disinfestation Since the painting support showed signs of insect infestation, the first step was to proceed with the disinfestation of the wood. The disinfestation was performed with Phostoxin, which is an insecticide
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CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

From up to down: Figure 15.The units of screw nails were fixed in the middle of every plate of the wooden support. Figure 16. Wooden girders were fixed in their place by inserting the screw nails through the rectangle hole in the wooden girders. Figure 17. The wooden panel after the intervention.

with aluminum phosphide (AlP) as active ingredient. This product was tested and was used as disinfesting agent in several paintings at the Research Centre of Conservation and Restoration of Fine Arts, Giza, Egypt. Phostoxin pellets react with humidity and release phosphine gas, which is highly toxic to insects; the pellet also contains ammonium carbamate that releases ammonia and carbon dioxide. In this process, the oil painting was carefully covered with polyethylene and then a tablet of Phostoxin was placed in the backside of the painting. The polyethylene was then closed and left for five days in horizontal position [1] (Figure 12).
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FATMA HELMI et al.

Cleaning Cleaning of both the wood and painting surfaces was carried out mechanically with smooth brushes to remove dirt and dust [2]. Then, chemical cleaning was applied using saliva on cotton swabs on small areas (Figure 13). The Wooden Panel First, the paint layer was consolidated and protected by applying two layers of Japanese paper over the surface [3]. The paper was adhered over the paintings surface by diluted glue-paste composed of 150 g of animal glue, 350 g of wheat flour, 10 g of Molasses, 10 g Venice turpentine, a few drops of sodium fluoride and warm water as described by El-Feky and Radi [4]. The glue used as adhesive agents, wheat flour helps to remove the papers layers easily, while Molasses and Venice turpentine give good flexibility to the mixture, in addition to sodium fluoride which used as a good preservative. Then, it was left to dry overnight under pressure (Figure 14), using a plate of wood with the same dimension of the painting [5]. The wooden girders were removed from the back of the panel (Figure 15) because they became weak, curved and had an insect infestation. Then, the oil painting was left for a week to retake its natural position. During this stage, balsa wood glued with Paraloid B72 at 15% in acetone [6] was used to fill large cracks and the separation between the first and second wooden panels. Due to the degradation and movements of the wood panels, it was required to apply a system to reinforce it, allowing a natural expansion and shrinkage. This system, first applied in this
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painting, consists of three wooden girders of the same shape of the curved wooden support and fixed on the backside in flexible way on horizontal position using screws 5 cm length and 1 cm diameter with steel springs on a 5 x 5 cm square base covered with Paraloid for anticorrosion protection. Fifteen screws were applied in five parallel rows and three screws were fixed in the middle of every board of the wooden support. After that, the wooden girders were fixed in their place by inserting the screws through the rectangular holes in the wooden girders. This process allows the free movement of the wooden panel, its expansion and shrinkage through the movement of the screws inside the rectangular holes in the wooden girders [7, 8] (Figure 16). After the support intervention was finished, the surface protection with Japanese paper was removed (Figure 17) and the adhesive remains were carefully cleaned with distilled water. The Painting Varnish removal is one of the most difficult and controversial procedures since it can damage the paint layer and change the way the painting is visualised. However, this was necessary due to the darkened varnish that changed the painting appearance. The dark varnish was removed using Butanone (ethylmethylketone, CH3C(O)CH2CH3) on white cotton swabs [9] (Figure 18). The removal of the last old retouches and overpaintings which were distorting the painting appearance was performed with dimethylformamide ((CH3)2NC(O)H) mixed with a little of turpentine. When required, scalpels were used to help removing the over paintings. Then, the last remains of the putty in the ground layer, from the previous restoration, were removed with a scalpel.
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CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

Figure 18.Comparison between before (left) and after (right) the removal of the varnish layer.

Figure 19. The oil painting after the restoration intrevention.

The ground layer was filled in areas where required with a paste, made of chalk and rabbit glue, using a brush and the pallet knife [10]. Retouching was done with Maimeri Restauro ketonic resin colours using pointillism and tratteggio techniques [11]. A thin layer of Paraloid B66 at 10% in toluene was sprayed over the first layer of retouching and all the surface of the oil painting to insulate the original paint and the inpainting. After the retouching was finished, a thin layer of final varnish (Paraloid B66 at 20% in toluene) was sprayed over the painting surface [12]. The Frame After the painting intervention, also the frame was restored. The intervention included the removal of rusted nails from the frame body, removal of an old intervention and cleaning. The frame was first cleaned mechanically with brushes, and then chemically with saliva applied with cotton swabs
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on small areas followed by ethyl alcohol. Afterwards, the previous altered restoration was removed with ethylmethylketone and scalpels. The weakened parts of the frame were consolidated with Paraloid B72 at 15% in toluene. The parts that needed volumetric reintegration were made with a paste prepared with chalk and rabbit skin glue. Retouching of the lost parts was performed with an aqueous acrylic binder in tratteggio. Finally, shellac at 15% in ethyl alcohol was used to protect the frame surface. Afterward, the oil painting was placed in the frame (Figure 19).

Conclusion The painting "Paul III and Ranzio Farnese" by Parmigianino is in storage at the Al-Gezira Museum, Egypt and required conservation intervention. Taking the opportunity, the painting was
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FATMA HELMI et al.

characterised analytically to identify the painting materials. The painting support consists of 5 panels of poplar wood. The panels were infested and were warped leading to cracks and lost parts in the ground layer. The wood movements also contributed to the paint layer degradation giving rise to fine cracks, craquelure, wrinkling, and separation of its parts. XRD data revealed that the ground layer consists mainly of gypsum, which was disintegrating, as well the pigments used by Parmigianino in the painting. FTIR identified animal glue as the ground layer binder, and linseed oil as the paint medium. After the material characterization, the wood support was treated with a new system to control the wood movements, followed by removal of the deteriorated varnish. After that restoration of the ground and paint layers was carried out, a new varnish layer was by applied. Finally, the frame was also restored, completing the painting. The oil painting will be exhibited when the museum will be open to the public.

Bernard, 1895 AD, The Fifth International Conference on Science and Technology in Archaeology and Conservation, Granada-Baeza, Spain, 7-11 July, 2007 [5] C. Keck, Lining adhesives: their history, uses and abuses, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 17(1), 1977, URL [6] J. Podany, K.M. Garland, W.R. Freeman, and J. Rogers, Paraloid B72 as a structural adhesive and as a barrier within structural adhesive bonds: Evaluation of strength and reversibility, Journal of American Institute for Conservation 40, 2001 [7] G. Bisacca, Structural Considerations in the Treatment of a Nativity by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, in K. Dardes and A. Rothe (eds.), The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings: Proceedings of a symposium at the J. Paul Getty Museum, 24-28 April 1995, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angles, 1998, pp. 341-358, URL [PDF] [8] G. Kostecki, Consolidation, Reinforcement & Stabilisation of Decorated artefacts, Meeting within the Cost ACTION IE 0661, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Czech Republic, 2009 [9] H. J. Plenderleith, A. E. Werner, The Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, Oxford University Press, London, 1971 [10] C. D. Clarke, Pictures, Their Preservation and Restoration, The Standard Arts Press, USA, 1959 [11] R. Mayer, The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques, Third Edition, The Viking Press, New York, 1978 [12] O. M. El-Feky, In the thought of restoration of oil paintings, The Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop, Cairo, 2004
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References [1] K. Nicolaus, The Restoration of Paintings, Knemann, Cologne, 1999 [2] M. T. Simpson, M. Huntley, SOTHEBYS Caring for Antiques, A Guide to Handing Cleaning, Display, and Restoration, Conran Octopus, London, 1992 [3] M. D. Gottsegen, A Manual of Painting Materials and Techniques, New York, 1987, p. 379 [4] O. M. El-Feky, A. M. Radi, New Restoration Method for a Doubled Oil Painting of Emile
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CONSERVATION OF A PARMIGIANINO PAINTING

FATMA HELMI
Researcher Contact: dr.fatma25@hotmail.com Fatma Helmi teaches archaeometry and conservation at the Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology of the Cairo University, Egypt. Previously, she was the head of the Conservation Department. She received a BSc and a MSc from Ain Shams University, Egypt, and obtained her PhD from Etvs Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. She also a UNESCO Fellowship for training on X-ray analysis at the Utrecht University and Eindhoven, Philips laboratories, The Netherlands.

FREE CONSERVATION RESOURCES

OSAMA EL-FEKY
Conservator-restorer Contact: osmelfeky@yahoo.com Osama El-Feky is a conservator-restorer specialized in oil paintings. He has a BA and MA in Conser-vation from the Department of Conservation and Restoration from the Faculty of Archaeology of Cairo University, Egypt. In 2003 he obtained his PhD from the same university with a thesis on comparative evaluation of materials and methods used for the conservation of oil paintings. He currently works as Assistant Professor at the same Department from Cairo University.

Art Conservation Research

conservationresearch.blogspot.com

YASMEEN ALAM ELDIN

Conservator-restorer Yasmeen Eldin graduated in 1998 from the Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University in 1998. In 2010 she obtained a MSc in Restoration and Conservation of Antiquities.
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scienc

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE USE OF AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

By Elisabetta Bosetti

AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Aquazol (Poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline), PEOX) is a water-soluble synthetic resin that has been used in conservation for about a couple of decades for consolidation, adhesion and lamination on materials of very different type such as glass, wood, paintings, enamel and paper. It has been of the utmost importance to learn more about this product in a practical context, especially because its non-toxicity and versatility promise easy application without health risks. This article is an empirical study with the main goal of exploring and learning, through testing, observation and documentation, the physical and optical behaviour of the polymer in a practical context in comparison with two other water-soluble polymers: polyvinyl alcohol and acrylic-acid-ester-copolymer. The study had the focus on water solution during and after application on canvas samples, paper and painted layers on canvas made with traditional and nontraditional materials.

Introduction The idea of this project has been developed in recognition of a lack of knowledge on the practical application of the innovative materials from the chemical industry in conservation, particularly in the field of paintings. The tendency to choose and use products that are not specifically developed for conservation purposes is quite common in conservation practice. The choice can partly be based on recommendations from conservation professionals, but also on scientific studies, which predominantly and typically focus on the properties of the products and rarely on how they work in conservation practice. It is hoped that this study will be a useful contribution to a better knowledge on the use of Aquazol. Literature about this versatile polymer traces the use of Aquazol in the field of conservation to the early 90s, mainly in the USA, but scientific studies have focused on this synthetic resin since the 80s [1-3]. Its use and application in conservation treatments ranges widely. Initially, it was analysed for conservation purpose as consolidant for glass. Subsequently its use expanded from enamel to lantern slides, as consolidant in paintings or
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medium in gesso filling as an environmentally compatible alternative to animal glue and testing on remoistenable mending tissues [4, 5]. Aquazol satisfies the expectation of compatibility with other conservation materials, and reversibility in conservation terms, which in many cases is the most desirable quality in conservation treatments [6]. A considerable number of publications on Aquazol can be found in literature, but when compared with other similar synthetics, Aquazol is still less known. However, research done to date on Aquazol shows interesting and satisfactory overall results with a prevalence of advantages compared to its disadvantages. Due to its varied properties, Aquazol corresponds in many ways to a desirable solution for consolidation, adhesion and lamination. It is relatively stable at room temperature and pressure, its pH is neutral when in aqueous solution, it is thermally stable and stable under artificial aging conditions, it is compatible with a broad range of materials, it is non-toxic and its solutions are very easy to prepare [7, 8]. This polymer also has the property of being soluble in both water and in the most common polar solvents used in conservation.
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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

From left to right, up to down: Figure 1. Original painting used to produce sample S1. Figure 2. Original painting used to produce sample S2. Figure 3. Original painting used to produce sample S3 and S3a. Figure 4. Original painting used to produce sample S4.

Materials and Methods It was sought to undertake the study simulating conditions where consolidation and adhesion interventions were needed in order to observe the polymers when in situ after treatment, but also during the application. The reason of choosing this method was to achieve a better and more concrete comprehension of the polymers properties, and furthermore to have a visual statement of fact of their behaviour when used in painting structures. To operate in accordance with this, it was necessary the use of samples from real
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paintings. This way, it has been possible to perform tests on naturally aged samples allowing the study to come as close as possible to the conditions of real conservation treatments. The samples were produced using five paintings of no historical value coming from flea markets, antiquarian stock and from the authors property (Figures 1-4). These different types of paintings were chosen with the intention of having a relatively varied range of materials and stages of aging, spanning from approximately 1 to 71 years old. One of the oldest paintings had already structural
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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Table I. Samples characteristics.

Sample A B C D E

Type of Canvas Linen Linen Linen Linen Polyester

Thread Density (cm2) 288 195 121 182 255

damages such as cracks, paint layer detachments and losses. The other four paintings had no relevant damages. To follow the purpose of the study, it was necessary to produce damages artificially. These were made mechanically on three paintings by using a pointed tool to achieve tears, detachment and holes. The fourth painting, made with acrylic colours, was still very flexible in its structure. To achieve detachment of the paint layer, it was necessary to use heat to make the paint layer more brittle. A square piece of the painting was cut and heated at around 80C in an electric oven for about 2 hours. Afterwards, the paint layer detachment was obtained by crumpling the painting piece (Figures 5-8). In addition to this, samples of canvases were also used to perform testing to observe optical and physical behaviour of the polymers. Specifi-

cally, the samples were took from four different types of linen canvas with different thickness and on a sample from a single synthetic canvas (polyester), as summarised in table I. This study is based on a comparative method between four polymers used in conservation. The tests were carried out with Aquazol 200, Aquazol 500, and two other polymers in water solution/ dispersion: Mowiol, a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) partially saponified, and Acronal 500D, an acrylicacid-ester-copolymer. In the preliminary stage of the study, tests on transparency and surface tension were also performed with these four polymers on kraft paper and polyester films (Hostaphan). There were many polymers that could have been chosen to be compared with Aquazol. Among many others, Mowiol and Acronal were chosen due to the large experience the author has with

Table II. Physical Properties of Aquazol [10].

Physical State Appearance pH Glass Temperature Decomposition temperature Solubility

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Solid White to pale yellow Neutral 69-71C >300C Soluble in water and most polar solvents
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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

Figure 5 (upper left). Backside of original painting. Preparation of sample S1. Figure 6 (lower left). Original painting used to produce S1. Detail of the back of the painting artificially made damages. Figure 7 (upper right). Preparation of samples S2 and S3. Figure 8 (lower right). Original painting used to produce sample S4. Detail of the detachment obtained by heating and crumpling the sample.

these synthetics, of over 20 years, when a cold application is desirable. Animal glues were not included in this study because it was limited to polymers used in conservation although both hide and sturgeon glue were a natural choice due to their similar properties to Aquazol when dissolved in water. Aquazol polymers are commercially available in four different molecular weights: 5, 50, 200 and 500 g/mol. For this study, two of the four, Aquazol 200 and Aquazol 500, were chosen for two reasons. First, these two molecular weights have already
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been studied and widely tested [8, p. 109; 9]. Furthermore, they have been identified as most satisfying and preferred than the two other options by conservators who use Aquazol in their treatments due to good quality in both application and preparation. Second, Aquazol 5 and 50 are more difficult to find. The physical properties of Aquazol are listed in Table II. In this article, the polymer names will be used in abbreviated form for easier reference: Aquazol 200 (AQ200), Aquazol 500 (AQ500), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and acrylic-acid-ester-copolymer (AC).
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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Figure 9. Aquazol 200-500 and PVA in solid state with visible light.

Figure 10. Aquazol 200-500 and PVA in solid state with UV light.

Visual documentation was done with a digital camera Canon Ixus 210 and USB powered microscope (20x-400x magnification) Veho VMS-004 Discovery Deluxe, taking snapshots and video recordings of the drying process. Since ultraviolet (UV) lamps are used by conservators to identify recent interventions, the samples were observed under UV radiation at 366 nm in order to assess the fluorescence of the polymers.

AQ500 and AQ200 revealed an interesting fluorescence, with higher intensity in AQ200. PVA had no fluorescence. Next, it was required to find the optimal polymer/ water ratio to be used in the tests. The optimal concentration of the polymers in water solution was determined by trying different percentages, from 5% to 20%. The optimal concentration of AQ500, AQ200 and PVA was found to be at 10%. The criteria for the choice of this percentage for all four polymers were based on the desire to have the same parameter despite the recognition that it would be possible to equally reach a similar fluidity at different concentrations for each polymer. Although the fluidity of AQ200, AQ500 and PVA was always quite similar even at different concentrations, while AC, being already in liquid form, at a lower concentration than 10% was found to be too watery and weaker. In order to achieve a similar fluidity as the other three polymers, it would have been necessary to have a very high concentration with the result of moving the study too far from the reality of an actual use of AC in a conservation treatment. The concentration at 10% was therefore also an acceptable compromise for performing tests. The polymers in question are readily soluble in water at normal
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Results and Discussion Preliminary testing The procedure was defined preliminarily, starting with simple observation of the polymers in solid state with natural light and UV to determine if there were differences in fluorescence between the polymers (Figures 9 and 10). However, this observation could not be done on AC because it is not commercialized in a solid state but already in water solution, although it was performed in later treatments. The observation with natural light revealed a yellowish appearance of AQ500 and AQ200, with major intensity for the latter. The PVA does not have a colour and can be described as white slightly transparent. With UV light,
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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

room temperature, except for PVA that must be heated to 80C to achieve a complete solution. In aqueous solution, the polymers have different appearances both in consistency and in fluidity. Concerning their appearance while in solution, AQ500 and AQ200 maintained the yellowish shade as when in solid state but had a smooth and satisfactory fluidity; PVAs appearance had a greyish shade but a less satisfactory fluidity compared to AQ500 and AQ200. AC was completely non-transparent and had a watery consistency and fluidity. To better observe and understand the solutions fluidity, transparency and surface tension, tests were made by applying a drop of each polymer on Hostaphan polyester film and Kraft paper, respectively (Figures 11- 15). The test on polyester film revealed an equal and satisfactory transparency of the thin layers that the polymer drops made after drying. With UV it was possible to observe a total lack of fluorescence, which could lead to the assumption that the solely film produced by these polymers hardly can be traced if used on inert and transparent material. With this test it was furthermore possible to pay particular attention to the difference between the drops surface (Figures 16-19). The thin layer formed by the drops of AQ500 and AQ200 had a sticky surface for several days after the application on the polyester film, which caused dust particles to stick to the surface. Drying time was not measured, but it was asumed that it was about 4 or 5 times slower than the two other polymers.

Water

AQ200

AQ500

PVA

Acronal
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Up to down: Figure 11. Drop of water on Kraft paper. Figure 12. Drop of AQ200 on Kraft paper. Figure 13. Drop of AQ500 on Kraft paper. Figure 14. Drop of PVA on Kraft paper. Figure 15. Drop of Acronal on Kraft paper.
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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Aquazol 200

Aquazol 500

PVA

ACRONAL

Figures 16-19 (left to right). Dried drops of AQ200, AQ500, PVA and Acronal on polyester film.

Figures 20-22 (left to right). Dried drops of AQ200, PVA and Acronal on Kraft paper (20x magnification).

On the Kraft paper, after the water drop, it was interesting to note, in addition to the deformations of the paper surface, where and how the polymeric materials were distributed on the contact surface between the drops and the paper (Figures 20-22). The level of deformations of the Kraft paper caused by the polymer and water drops is summarized in diagrams 1 and 2, where the degree of deformation was expressed in arbitrary units between 0 and 8. Testing on Canvas Samples The goal of the testing was to measure chromatic changes, flexibility, migration through the fibres, distribution of the polymers on treated surface/
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material and the intensity of the fluorescence with UV after the application of the polymers in water solution (Diagram 3). It was interesting to observe the behaviour of the polymers on high hygroscopic materials like linen fibres to better understand the optical and physical changes of the tested samples and, furthermore, to document the polymers migration through the canvas weaving (Figures 23-28). This was due to the fact that the observation in a painted structure could be misleading because of the different composition of materials with different physical behaviour (hydrophilic/ hydrophobic), not to forget the difficulty of controlling the capillary factor between layers.
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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

Diagram 1. Polymer drops on Kraft paper. Evaluation of the surface tension of drops.

Diagram 2. Deformation of the Kraft paper caused by polymer drops after drying process.

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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Diagram 3. Summary diagram of the results testing on canvas samples. The two molecular weights of Aquazol have been put together in this diagram due to their very similar behaviour. Figure 23 (left). Canvas sample, canvas A - linen not treated (400x magnification). Figure 24 (bottom left). Canvas sample, Canvas A linen after application (with brush) of AQ500 after drying (400x magnification). Figure 25 (bottom right). Canvas sample, Canvas A linen after application of AQ500, after drying on the back side of the sample (400x magnification).

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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

Since the linen canvas samples had four different thread densities, thickness and fineness, it was possible to have a small range of results on which to make some considerations from the optical point of view. For example, chromatic changes of the canvas samples with lower thread density and fineness, after application and drying of the polymers, were greater than those of the canvas samples with higher thread density and fineness. The temperature and relative humidity during the testing were 23C and 50%, respectively. For the tests on the polyester canvas sample, it was sufficient to choose only one kind of thread density and fineness. Due to the hydrophobic properties of these synthetic canvases, it was not necessary to have a different type of spinning and weaving because they would behave in the same way and the results of the tests would not give any interesting values to be compared with. The particularity of the tests on synthetic canvas was the minimal chromatic changes of the area treated with the polymers observed with visible light, whereas with UV light the polymers fluorescence is higher than in tests done on linen canvas. This observation imposes a particular attention to the fact that the intensity of fluorescence of the polymeric material is obviously closely related to the type of material on which it is applied. Therefore, the sole observation of the polymer fluorescence is not determinant since its intensity changes considerably depending on the physical properties of the materials on which the polymer is applied. Furthermore, the observation on the flexibility gives a low degree of stiffness of the synthetic canvas. The observation of the video recordings taken with the microscope during the drying process did not reveal any particular differences in the
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From up to down: Figure 26. Testing migration of polymers through fibres. Application on different kinds of canvas samples. Figures 27 and 28. Testing migration and hygroscopicity of canvas sample, Canvas D linen. Front (top) and back (below) of the sample.

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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Figures 29 and 30. Canvas sample, Canvas A linen with applied AQ500. The image shows a frame from the video recording at the beginning (left) and end (right) of the drying process (400x magnification).

Figures 31 and 32. Sample from actual painting (S1) tear before (left) the application of AQ200 and after (right) the application of AQ200 and after drying (20x magnification).

Table III. Samples generated from actual paintings.

Sample S1 S2 S3 S3a S4 S5

Age of painting 67 years

~40 years

Canvas Linen Polyester Linen Polyester Polyester

Ground Gesso Gesso Gesso + multiple grey oil layer No No

Paint layer Oil colour Oil colour Oil colour Acrylic colour Matte acrylic medium + dye

Damage and needed treatment Tear + paint layer detachments (original damages) Consolidation + impregnation Paint layer detachments (artificially caused) Adhesion with heat treatment Cracks in paint layer + detachments (artificially caused) Impregnation + adhesion Paint layer detachment (artificially caused) Adhesion with heat treatment Tear (artificially caused) Mending/impregnation with heat treatment
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71 years 8 years
~1 year

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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

Figures 33 and 34. Sample from actual painting (S2) tear and detachment of paint layer before the application of AQ200 and the flattening with heat treatment (left), and after the application of AQ200 and after the flattening with heat treatment (right) (20x magnification).

Figures 35 and 36. Sample from actual painting (S3a) cracks in paint layer before (left) and after (right) the application of AQ200 (400x magnification).

Table IV. Performance evaluation of Aquazol in situ.

Sample S1 S2 S3 S3a S4 S5

Treatment Consolidation + impregnation Adhesion with heat treatment Impregnation + adhesion Adhesion with heat treatment Tear-mending with heat treatment

Expected results Distribution on threads and between particles of paint layer Flattening of paint layer with heated spatula maintaining adhesion properties Distribution between contact surfaces of paint layer flakes and cracks Flattening of paint layer with heated spatula maintaining adhesion properties Impregnation, adhesion and flattening of paint layer with heated spatula maintaining adhesion properties

Performance evaluation Great Very satisfactory Very satisfactory Very satisfactory Great and very satisfactory
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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

Figures 37 and 38. Sample from actual painting (S3) paint flack before (left) and after (right) adhesion with application of AQ200 (20x magnification).

Figures 39 and 40. Sample from actual painting (S4) paint layer detachment before (left) and after (right) adhesion by application of AQ200 (20x magnification).

behaviour of the polymers. However, it was possible to note how they were distributed between the fibres after the evaporation of water (Figures 29 and 30). Tests on Painted Structures The five different types of painting on canvas samples were used to perform the tests with Aquazol. The different painted structures are summarised in Table III. The testing on these samples from paintings on canvas was limited to the observation of AQ200 and AQ500 in situ, particularly its ability to be distributed between the layers in function to work
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Figures 41 and 42. Sample from actual painting (S5) tear before (left) application of AQ200 for mending treatment and after (right) application of AQ200 and mending treatment.
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ELISABETTA BOSETTI

in adhesion, impregnation and consolidation treatments1. The polymer was applied on all samples in the same way with a small brush helping it to penetrate into the underlying layers by pushing the polymer into the cavities with small strokes. All treatments had a satisfactory outcome. The results are summarised in Table IV. The consolidation and impregnation treatment on S1 revealed that the polymer was distributed in a great way on the threads and between the particles of the paint layer. On S2 and S4, where adhesion with heat treatment was needed, the polymer allowed to perform the treatment and flattening of the paint layer with heated spatula at 45-50 C maintaining satisfactory adhesion properties. On sample S3 the polymer was perfectly lying between the contact surfaces of the paint layer flakes that had to regain the adhesion and on sample S3a the polymer penetrated smoothly into the paint layer crack and filling satisfactory the gap. In the tear mending performance on sample S5, where heat treatment was needed, the polymer allowed to perform impregnation, adhesion and flattening of the paint layer with heated spatula at 45-50 C maintaining satisfactory adhesion properties. Furthermore, the polymer did not change the appearance of the matte paint layer (Figures 31-42).

in application and demonstrate a minimal interaction with the constituent materials of the paintings. These properties are of great advantage especially in adhesion or impregnation treatments in which it is highly desirable to control the polymer in the substrates of painted surfaces. However, it is important to note the tendency of this polymer to impose both stiffness and chromatic changes (darkening) to the materials if they are hygroscopic. Therefore, in a treatment that may include the impregnation of a large area of a painted structure, it may be necessary to assess the risk of having significant chromatic changes that may have subsequent unwanted effects.

Appendix At the authors current working place, she was able to apply Aquazol on a wide range of materials of museum objects and in different treatments such as stabilization of lacquered and painted wood and consolidation of highly hygroscopic materials (hemp and clay). In the case where materials were strongly hygroscopic and it was not desirable to have a reaction with water, Aquazol was dissolved in Acetone. Aquazol allowed the execution of several treatments showing good properties of compatibility with the different materials in all cases. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank The Danish Art Workshops in Copenhagen (Statens Vrksteder for Kunst) for having granted the use of its conservation premises where the study took place, and to Mrs. Michela DellAnno for proofreading the text.

Conclusion The outcome of this study confirms the high expectations of an alternative non-toxic product in aqueous solution. Aquazol is the most versatile

References
1 The testing was not intended to be a complete treatment,

i.e. following completion of removal of residual polymer from the painted surface and the perfect juxtaposition of the flacks of colour.

[1] D. Duerbeck, M. McGinn, R. C. Wolbers, Poly(2-Ethyl-2-Oxazoline): A New Conservation Consoe-conser vation

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AQUAZOL IN PAINTINGS CONSERVATION

lidant, in V. Dorge and F. Carey Howlett (ed.), Painted Wood: History and Conservation, The Getty Conservation Institute, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1994 [2] C. Rnnerstam, Aquazol 500 undermedlet frn USA, Realia 2, Nordiska konservatorfrbundet, Svenska sektionen (2003) [3] R. C. Wolbers, Short Term Mechanical Properties of Adhesives: Solvent and Plasticizer Effects, in Proceedings of The Care of Painted Surfaces. Materials and Methods for Consolidation, and Scientific Methods to Evaluate their Effectiveness: Third Congress on Color and Conservation, Materials and Methods of Restoration of Movable Polychrome Works, Milan, 10-11 November 2006, 2008, pp. 111-118 [4] R. Calore, L. Frizza, M. Jaxa-Chamiec, L. Rizzonelli, N. Stevanato, AQUAZOL 500. Una possibile alternativa ecocompatibile alla colla animale nella preparazione degli stucchi per il restauro dei dipinti. Test preliminari per la stabilit, lavorabilit e comportamenti, Proceedings of the 5 Congresso Internazionale Colore e conservazione 2010, Le fasi finali nel restauro delle opere policrome mobile, 19-20 Novembre 2010, Trento, 2010, pp. 19-20 [5] K. Lechuga, Aquazol-Coated Remoistenable Mending Tissues, Proceedings of Symposium 2011, Adhesives and Consolidants for Conservation: Research and Applications, 17-21 October 2001, Ottawa, Canadian Conservation Institute, 2011, URL [PDF] [6] R. Lapkin, A. Lindsey, V. Meredith, V. Rastonis, S. Russick, G. Simon, Waxing Scientific: Exploring New Options for Wax Seal Consolidation, The Book and Paper Group Annual 21, 2002, pp. 95-98, URL [7] J. Arslanoglu, C. Tallent Carolyn, Evaluation of the Use of Aquazol as an Adhesive in Paintings Conservation, WAAC Newsletter 25(2), 2003
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[8] J. Arslanoglu, Using Aquazol: a brief summary, AIC Paintings Speciality Group Postprints, 32 Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon (2004) [9] E. Knight, L. Borgioli, A new Polymer for Consolidation, in The Care of Painted Surfaces. Materials and methods for consolidation, and scientific method to evaluate their effectiveness, Proceedings of the Third International Conference: Colour and Conservation, Materials and Method in the Conservation of Polychrome Artworks, Milan, November 10-11, 2006, 2008, pp. 180-181 [10] PCIs Advanced Water-Soluble Polymer, Polymer Chemistry Innovations, URL (accessed on 5/06/12)

ELISABETTA BOSETTI
Conservator-restorer Contact: info@elisabettabosetti.dk Elisabetta Bosetti was educated as restorer at Scuola per la Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali in Botticino, Italy in 1990. Since 1991 she has been working in Denmark at major and minor museum institutions operating on important national monuments and objects of art from the Danish Cultural Heritage. She is currently restorer at The Danish National Museum of Military History (Statens Forsvarshistoriske Museum) specifically at the project for the installation of the new basic exhibition.
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case study
A FLEXIBLE CROSSBAR SYSTEM FOR A 19TH CENTURY PANEL PAINTING
By Angeliki Bakalarou Charis Theodorakopoulos

FLEXIBLE CROSSBAR SYSTEM

This letter reports on the construction of a flexible crossbar system for a 19th century panel painting that belongs to a private owner. The flexible crossbar system was constructed according to post-Byzantine treatises (Figure 1) at the Panel Painting Conservation Laboratory of the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, in the framework of the graduate dissertation project of the first author. The system was built to support the deteriorated wooden panel that was infested by insects and broken in two independently warping halves (Figures 2 and 3). Wood is considered a durable material and, thus, has been employed as paintings support since the 5th century B.C. [1]. However, it shrinks and

swells by successive absorption and release of moisture that induces ongoing warping [2, 3]. As a result, the surface of wooden panels change with time loosing its originally supposed flatness [4]. The endless activity of the panel results in deformations owing to mechanical stresses towards all directions, which are responsible for a great deal of physical damage caused to the paint, including cracks, detachments and scaling. Commonly, nailed, dovetailed or sliding crossbars are fitted in the back of the panels both to attenuate these tensions and to ensure the maximum possible flatness of the painted surface [4]. Traditional and modern wooden panel paintings, such as those created throughout the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods and followed to date

Figure 1. Post-Byzantine, 19th century egg tempera panel painting Assembly of Archangel Michael. After breakage, the two panel parts are warping independently due to the ambient humidity fluctuations.

Figure 2. Rear side of the panel painting. The original nailed crossbars hold the two broken panel parts together. Skin-deep tunnels along the wood surface and exit holes of wood-boring insects are observed both on the panel and the crossbars. The yellow circles indicate the corroded nails of the crossbars.

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ANGELIKI BAKALAROU & CHARIS THEODORAKOPOULOS

Figure 3. The independently warping tensions of the two broken panel parts are obvious on both top (a) and bottom (b) views of the painting.

by the Greek hagiographic painters, often bear two crossbars symmetrically positioned in the back (Figure 2), in order to uniformly distribute, and thereby reduce, the panel-induced tensions across the interface with the paint. During the conservation of wooden panels, when the crossbars are damaged beyond repair, and they no longer perform their original task, they should be replaced with new ones of similar wood and shape with those of the original artwork [5]. In case of severe physical deterioration and breakage of the panel, the construction of customized flexible crossbar systems is an alternative solution [6, 7]. If sensibly assembled, such systems provide both sufficient support and adjustment of pressure to the degraded panels. Moreover, the stresses between the panel and the flexible crossbars can be manually compensated so that the moisture-induced warping of the panel is restricted to a minimum [7]. Such systems are expected to ward off the deformational tensions of the deteriorated panel. In contrast to various reported case studies, where tension adjustment is obtained by complex crossbar-and-frame flexible systems [5-7], herein we report a
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novel simple construction of two independently adjustable crossbars [8]. The painting panel (38 x 52.3 x 2 cm) under conservation (Figures 1-3) was weak and unstable due to past insect infestation. In addition, it was broken in two parts that remained virtually independent and loosely connected by the corroded spikes of the original crossbars, which were also degraded and not able to support the panel in the long run. Evidently, the deterioration of both the panel and the crossbars did not allow the appropriate preservation of the painting, principally for three reasons: the painted surface was broken in two parts preventing the correct viewing of the painting; there were considerably large fragments of paint flaking off along the fracture; and the two virtually independent parts of the panel tended to warp autonomously (Figure 3). Thus, joining the broken panel parts was essential to preserve the painting. Obviously, consolidation and adhesion would not suffice to reduce the heterogeneous stresses derived from the warping of the two separated panel parts to the originally supposed uniform painted surface. Therefore, it was decided to build a flexible crossbar system to
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FLEXIBLE CROSSBAR SYSTEM

obtain both the optimum consistency of the painted surface and the ability to adjust the pressure of the crossbars to the panel. The latter objective was consistent with the view to gradually reduce the warping tensions that are transmitted to the paint. The new crossbar system (Figure 4) was constructed after a typical conservation of the panel that included: a) facing of the painted surface with Sekishu Japanese paper and a thermoplastic copolymer adhesive (20% w/v BEVA 371 in low aromatic white spirit), b) unnailing the original degraded crossbars, c) removal of dirt across the panel surface with distilled water and co-solvents, (mainly ethanol), d) consolidation of the panel with acrylic/methacrylic copolymers (10% w/v Paraloid B72 in acetone), as well as e) joining using wooden dowels and polyvinyl acetate (PVA) emulsions [8]. Then, four rectangular cuts (6 x 6 cm wide and 1.5 cm deep with a 2 cm gap between them) were notched in the back of the panel along the areas of each original crossbar. These notches were fitted with elaborate footings. Each footing was constructed of a beech block (6 x 6 x 2 cm) covered on one side with a brass plate (6 x 6 x 15 mm) fastened with four 3 mm steel screws at the corners. The block/plate systems were drilled in the center with a 7 mm bit that allowed 6 mm steel screws to be inserted with the head facing the uncovered surfaces of the blocks. Also, the areas of the blocks in contact with the heads of the screws were carved so that the screw heads did not jutted out of the blocks. Finally, the thread of each screw protruding out of the brasscovered surface was wrapped with a stainless steel coil spring. The footings were firmly adhered in place with a PVA emulsion that joined the uncovered block surface with the panel at the aforementioned notches (Figures 4 and 5). These
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Figure 4. Schematic representation of the flexible crossbar system installation on the back of the panel (a). A firmly fitted composite footing was constructed of a 6 mm stainless steel screw (b), a beech block (c) and a bronze plate cover (d) that was fitted with 3 mm steel screws (e). A compression spring coil (f) was wrapped around the protruded thread and allowed the adjustment of the pressure applied to the panel by the new crossbars (g) via tightening or loosening a bolt (h).

firmly fitted composite footings allowed on-demand pressure regulation from the new crossbars to the panel by adjusting the compression of the coil springs. The new crossbars were also made of beech and had the same length and width as the original crossbars (36.3 x 6.7 cm), but their internal sides were carved to follow the curvature of the warped panel and, therefore, the thickness of the new crossbars spanned from 1.5 to 3 cm (Figure 6). All beech parts of the construction were tanned with cassia diluted in water to reduce their apparent color difference with the aged panel. Brass plates (6 x 6 x 15 mm) were fitted with 3 mm steel screws on the curved side of the crossbars, to face the brass plates of the footings to avoid attritioninduced damage of the construction in case of contact between the footings and crossbars. Then, 7 mm holes were drilled in the center of the brass plates and through the crossbars to allow a
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ANGELIKI BAKALAROU & CHARIS THEODORAKOPOULOS

Figure 5. View of the composite footings after being fitted with a PVA emulsion in the back of the panel. The compression spring coils around the screws are also shown.

Figure 6. The flexible crossbar system as shown from the top (a) and bottom (b) views of the painting.

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Figure 7. Final view of the panel with the new crossbar system attached. All new wooden parts were tanned to resemble the color of the panel.

relatively easy insertion of the underlaid 6 mm screws of the footings (Figure 4). The new crossbars were placed over each composite footing system, with each 6 mm screw protruding approximately 0.8 mm from each crossbar, and held in place by bolts (Figures 6 and 7). By manually tightening or loosening the bolts, the compression of the springs and, consequently, the pressure of the crossbars to the panel were adjusted in order to keep both the panel and the painted surface joined and leveled. In case of further warping of the panel in time, the system allows to readjust the pressure of the crossbars
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accordingly. We will observe and report on the progress of the installation, in order to ensure the best possible preservation of this painting and to further optimize the construction of flexible crossbar systems for future applications. Acknowledgements This work was performed at the Panel Painting Conservation Laboratory at the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, under supervision of the corresponding author.
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References [1] C. Delvoye, L art Byzantin, Arthaud, Paris 1967, pp. 101-107 [2] R. B. Hoadley, Chemical and Physical Properties of Wood, in The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings: Proceedings of a Symposium at the J. Paul Getty Museum, April 1995, The Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 1998, pp. 2-20 [3] A. Unger, A.P. Schniewind, W. Unger, Conservation of Wood Artifacts: A Handbook, SpringerVerlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2001, pp. 23-42 [4] L. Uzielli, Historical Overview of Panel-Making Techniques in Central Italy, in The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings: Proceedings of a Symposium at the J. Paul Getty Museum, April 1995, The Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 1998, pp. 110-135 [5] M. Ciatti, C. Castelli, and A. Santacesaria, Dipinti su tavola, la tecnica e la conservazione dei supporti, Edifir Firenze, 1999, pp. 188-192 [6] C. Castelli, The Restoration of Panel Painting Supports: Some Case Histories, in The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings: Proceedings of a Symposium at the J. Paul Getty Museum, April 1995, The Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 1998, pp. 316-340 [7] B. Marcon, D. Dureisseix, P. Dionisi-Vici, J. Gril, and L. Uzielli, Experimental and numerical mechanical study of a framing technique for cupping control of painted panels combining crossbars and springs, in J. Gril (Ed.), Wood Science for Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Proceedings of the International Conference, COST Action IE0601, (Braga, 5-7 November 2008), 2010 [8] A. Bakalarou, Methodology for the conservation of two Post Byzantine Panel Paintings: gel-induced
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removal of aged coatings, Diploma Dissertation, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, 2011

ANGELIKI BAKALAROU Conservator-restorer Contact: ang.bakalarou@gmail.com Angeliki Bakalarou graduated from the Conservation Department at the Technological Educational Institute of Athens (TEI-A), Greece in 2011. In TEI-A's educational program, she gained professional experience in the Conservation Department of Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens in 2009, where she was involved in conservation routines on panel paintings and post-byzantine icons. Her dissertation at TEI-A, which included cleaning implementations on painted, lacquered and gilded surfaces, was awarded the highest qualification.

CHARIS THEODORAKOPOULOS Conservation scientist Contact: ctheodlos@teiath.gr, ctheodlos@iesl.forth.gr Charis Theodorakopoulos received a PhD in 2004 at the Royal College of Art, London in collaboration with the Molecular Painting Research Group in FOM - Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), Amsterdam and the Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (IESL/FORTH), Heraklion, Greece. After a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Conservation Science Group, Birkbeck College (University of London), he joined the Conservation Department at Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, where he lectures and supervises lab sessions on conservation for painted works of art since 2008. In 2011, he joined the IESL/FORTH Bio-Organic Materials Chemistry Laboratory (BOMCLab), where he investigates gelbased cleaning applications for conservation.
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STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF THE CITY CENTER OF SHAHR-E RAY, IRAN

By Vahid Heidari

VAHID HEIDARI

The city center of Shahr-e-Ray (or Shahre-Rei, city of Rey) is a historic center that was constructed around the holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim, and is nowadays one of the 22 municipal districts of Tehran, Iran. Its origins can be traced back to the fifth millennium B.C. being one of the most important ancient sites of Iran. The site nucleus is located near the spring of Cheshmeh-Ali (Ali spring) and it developed towards the southern side during the medieval era which was its golden age. Due to the Mongols invasion in 1221 A.D., the evolution of this magnificent civilization was delayed but Shahr-e-Ray was later revitalized, especially since the holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim became the second urban core in the Qajar era (1785-1925 A.D). The Jame mosque, madrasah (religious school), caravansarys, bathrooms and the bazaar are among the numerous public spaces that were built in the second core. Despite the numerous cultural relics, the city center is at risk due to urban expansion. Some services such as accommodation and transportation for pilgrims have destroyed much of the historic buildings. This paper focus its study on both cores of the city, the ancient core of Shahr-e-Ray and the city center of Shahr-e-Rai (the area around the holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim), through detailed survey. Finally, the contemporary conditions of the historic fabric are classified and analyzed.

Introduction In general, architecture and urban heritage conservation programs have at least three main objectives: to show the contribution of the various civilizations in the city progress, to learn from past experience, and to develop the local economy and the residents sense of belonging to the historic space. The historic center surrounding the holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim should be conserved as a valuable area of Shahr-e-Ray. Increasingly more people recognize Shahr-e-Ray as a neighborhood of Tehran and not as a valued historic area. Also, previous studies only occasionally focused on the ancient core of Shahr-e-Ray. The lack of a complete exploration and research about the second historic core of Shahr-e-Ray as well as the different conservation problems of the historic center are two lacunas that this paper wishes to address. This paper focuses on the second historic core of Shahr-e-Ray, around the holly shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim, which has all the special characteristics of Iranian historic cities from the
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Islamic era. Thus, the so called Abd-al-Azim historic city includes a center and four districts. The original center has an area of 40 hectares and adding its suburban areas it goes up to 120 hectares. This research was made in three parts: the base study, the analysis and the intervention. The study includes a site survey and bibliographic research. In the analytic stage, we categorized the assembled documentation according to a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. During the intervention stage, two plans were proposed: urban planning and urban designing.

Historical Background City expansion in the first core (ancient Ray) The first core of Shahr-e-Ray was located next to a spring named Cheshmeh-Ali or "Nahre Soren". German archaeologist Eric Schmitt discovered this ancient site in 1935 and dated items found there back to 4000-6000 B.C. [1]. There is no
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Figure 1.Extension of the city of Ray in the Qajar period that is adapted on up-to-date condition. The study zone is highlighted in blue color.

injunction about Shahre-Ray between 4000 and 1000 B.C. but later (900 B.C - 700 A.D), Shahr-eRay was divided into two regions: Ray Barin (upper Ray) located at the south of Cheshmeh-Ali and Ray Zirin (lower Ray) located in the eastern part of Cheshmeh-Ali and on the south of the Bibi-Shahr-Banoo mountains [1]. The best era for Shahr-e-Ray was 700-1200 A.D., before the Mongol invasion. During this time, the city was divided in three districts: Sharestan (middle city), Kohandege (outside city), and Rabaz (bazaar) [1]. In 1219 A.D., the Mongols occupied Iran and Shahr-e-Ray was destroyed. But there are some monuments dating from the Safavian period (1502-1736 A.D) proving that the city was revitalized. Under Qajarian dominion (1785-1925
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A.D.), the region next to the shrine of Hazrat-iAbdul Azim was expanded and new bazaar and quarters were constructed (Figure 1). During the Pahlavi period (1926-1979 A.D.), Shahr-e-Ray was influenced by Tehran's development and some structures such as cement, glycerin, and chintz factories, governmental offices and other service centers were built. Consequently, new streets and roundabouts were constructed changing the city view [2]. City expansion in the second core (shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim) Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim was a holy man from the family of Imam Ali, forth caliph and the first Imam of the Shieh sect, who migrated from the city of
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Shahr-e-Ray people moved to other regions like Tehran, Varamin and Abdul Azim villages. In the Safavid era (15011736 AD), the Shieh sect was accepted as a formal belief in Iran and the kings themselves took some related measures such as expanding the shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim and the Abbasi caravansary, which was built between the tomb and portcullis of Shahr-e-Ray. In fact, the village was expanded due to the increase number of pilgrims. The village of Abdul Azim changed to city during the Qajar era, when the bazaar, the most important space of the city, was built. In that era, other important buildings already built were caravansaries, the jame mosque, the Borhan madrasah (religious school) and the Qajarian bathroom. The Maidan-e Tekyeh square and Mozaffary Street, along the bazaar, are part of the old city skeleton. Maidan-e Tekyeh is a sort of plaza with economic functions at the bazaar entrance, despite being the scene of performing mourning ceremonies in some days of year. The Mozaffary Street was the old way between Abdul Azim village and ancient Ray, but it was changed into a street during Mozafarden-Shahs reign (1916-1926 A.D). Today, it is the main access to the holy shrine.

Figure 2. Schematic design of the Abd-al-Azim historic city in the Qajar period: 1-the Holy Shrine; 2- the Abd-al-Azim Citadel; 3- The Abasi Caravansary; 4-the Bazaar; 5-The Big Plaza; 6- The Caravanserai; 7- The Jame Mosque; 8-The Religious Madras; 9- The Bath; 10-The Little Plaza; 11-The Qajarian Caravanserai; 12- The Garden.

Samera (now in Iraq) to Shahr-e-Ray. After he died in 852 A.D, he was buried in a garden out of the Shahr-e-Ray enceinte and a tomb was constructed there. Afterwards, a village was built and called Abdul Azim village, which progressed gradually over time [3]. In fact, the second core of Shahr-e-Ray goes back to a rural era, outside the city. Other reasons of the progress of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim village were its vicinity to the Shahr-e-Ray and the Silk Road. During the Mongol invasion (1219 A.D.), many of
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Abdul Azim historic city on Qajar era More historic buildings of the Abdul Azim historic city, such as the bazaar and caravansaries, were located in the north of the shrine and are the prove that the first development occurred on that area. In fact, the urban growth direction was from the Qajarian fabric (second core, south district) to the ancient city (first core, north district). The Abd-al-Azim historic city is organized in four zones: Nafar-Abad, Hashem-Abad, Tootestan and
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Figure 3. A view of holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim.

Sar-takht. Nafar-Abad, in the southern part, is the biggest district and its center is an open space for gathering people and some monumental structures, such as Tekyeh and Sagha-khaneh (a room with a water source for thirsty people). The Nafar-Abad district connects with the other points of the historic city by the bazaar, holy shrine, and the Maidan-e koochak, which is another plaza on the other side of the bazaar. Hashem-Abad, located at west of Nafar-Abad and southeast part of the old city, is a district surrounded by farmland. Unfortunately, most of its constructions have been destroyed. Tootestan is other district of the old city, which is located at the east of Mozaffary street and in the north of Nafar-Abad district. Two stone inscriptions on the wall are located in Pachenar alley in Tootestan. Also a
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Qajarian caravansary as a latest Qajarian building, is located on the opposite side of the scripted wall. Finally, Sar-takht is the most famous quarter due to its physical conditions. The district center of Sar-takht is located in the middle of the fabric. Nowadays, the major structures, such as the Abanbar, bath and local mosque were destroyed and replaced by renewal projects. However, some valuable houses, such as Kelid-dary house, Saghafi house and Sadr house have been preserved over time (Figures 2 and 3). Abdul Azim historic city in contemporary era In the first Pahlavi era (19251941), Iranian urbanism supported by government policy tended to modern constructions. As an example, Abdul
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Figure 4. Entrance of a historic house in Sartakht zones, from first Pahlavi period .

Azim historic square was changed to a new roundabout, some streets were built around it and Mozaffary Street was widened. This caused the destruction of the Abbasi caravansary and Maidan Takye. Some service buildings were built in a new classic style such as an infirmary, a modern bath and a police station. The houses were developed in quality and quantity and some modifications took place such as modern houses were not made in courtyard plan and were modified in facade, entrance and materials (Figures 4). Reza-Shah, the first Pahlavi king, died on exile in 1944 and was buried in the south corner of the holly shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim. In the second Pahlavi era (1941-1979), Iran architecture modified its style, from new classic to modern. For
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example, Reza-Shahs tomb was built in 19491952. To access the new tomb, which is huge, a new road was build causing the destruction of the urban fabric. In addition, the quarters were extended next to the farmlands and old gardens were destroyed. The quarters of Sar-takht and Tootestan had the highest traffic because of their vicinity to Mozaffary Street and instead of traditional houses, apartments with poor design and planning were built. The Iranian revolution took place on February 1979 and it also had an impact on the Abdul Azim historic city, in two stages. In the first decade (1979-1989), the process of change was slow due to rising effects and imposed war (Iraq attacked Iran in September 1981, 18 months after the 1979
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Figure 5. Destroying a valuable house in extension project of holy shrine.

revolution). The destruction of the Reza shah tomb in 1979 was the most important event in those years (a madrasah was later built in its location). During the second decade, the renovation and expansion plans of the holy shrine of Hazrat-iAbdul Azim changed the traditional fabric. Most of the plans were based on preparing more services for pilgrims. In fact, in 1989-1994 the historic fabric was demolished and cleared under a rehabilitation without any comprehensive plan. The development plan of the holy shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim began in 1994 with the following goals: improving the transportation system; construction of a cultural center for pilgrims and residents, including a library and a museum; increasing the services for visitors such as parking, motels and infirmary; rehabilitation of the settlement fabric; reconstruction of the holy shrine as a spiritual center; construction of a theological faculty and a new shopping mall [3].
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Finally, the managers decided to extend the estate from approximately 10,000 m2 to 30,000 m2 and made two new passages in the middle of the historic city in spite of the existent Mozaffari Street and Modarres Boulevard, without attention to the conservation of urban and architecture heritage. Sadly, the traditional fabric of the historic city was interrupted and many of monuments were destroyed between 1990 and 2001 [4].

Present Abd-al-Azim historic city conditions Nowadays, Abdul Azim historic city is disruptive because of civil programs and traffic problems. Furthermore, local managers and designers did not pay attention to the conservation of the historic context and destroyed historic fabric for new building constructions such as a medical center, college and offices.
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Figure 6. A view of the Safavian caravansary and its buffer zones in now condition.

Figure 7. A view of the historical bazzar entrance in the Maidan-e Tekyeh after restoration.

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(the city center of Shahr-e Rai), the author prepared a management plan divided in four stages, proposed as an academic exercise, as follows [4]. Documentation of the historic hity in today's conditions For the documentation the Abdul Azim historic city, two types of information on nine zones were registered: five are core zones and four are buffer zones, including the function maps, the antiquity maps, the structural maps, the traffic map and the urban facility maps as physical parameters, and the population maps, the density maps, and other social characteristics as human parameters [4]. Restoration of Abdul Azim historic city For restoration of the historic fabric, two levels of intervention in urban planning and urban designing were proposed. First, a comprehensive plan was prepared for the conservation and revitalization of the local fabric (Figure 8). Second, a detailed plan and some architectural patterns were presented. To categorize and analyze the documentation, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) method was used. First, the decay in comprehensive plan was assessed and some suggestions were proposed such as the land use plan, and traffic solutions. As second step, some detailed programs for historic zones were proposed such as rules to design public buildings, homes and urban design and plans for urban management [4]. Rehabilitation and revitalization planning of the historic city skeleton One of the most important parts of every historic center is the city skeleton. Historic zones can
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Figure 8. General zone in the proposed function.

Other problems are access and facades. The construction of new streets led to the fragmentation of the historic city. Also, since the planners failed to predict enough parking for visitors, the managers tried to persuade local owners to sell their properties around it. Such policies caused the destruction of many historic monuments (Figure 5). In addition, new constructions do not have any integrity nor take into consideration the facades, color, shape, materials and height (Figure 6). In spite of these weaknesses, the cultural heritage offices of Tehran have made some conservation measures in recent years (1997-2002) such as the reinforcement of brick structures in the historic bazaar and rebuilding the bazaar entrance in Maidan-e Tekyeh. Some restoration was also performed on the ornamental elements such as at the brick, tile and stone level in the holy shrine [4] (Figure 7).

Conservation and Rehabilitation Planning of Abdul Azim Historic City After the analysis of the history, geography, anthropology, urbanism and architecture of Abdul Azim
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Figure 9. Maidan-e Tekyeh in proposed design (left) and a plan of Maidan-e Tekyeh in present condition (right).

improve deterioration and stagnancy if their skeleton still lives. In this stage, some new functions for old structures being restored were suggested such as rebuilding the Maiden-e Tekyeh in front of the bazaar for a mall, a traditional restaurant and a small inn. On the other hand, Qajarian caravanserai is probably a good case for municipal offices of historic context. The Safavian caravanserai, due to its large and varied space, could be changed, for example, to a multipurpose cultural center for artistic workshops and cultural exhibitions [4]. Proposal of some patterns to build new structures Some patterns were proposed in new structures integrated by old context in style, scale, height and materials, for example, the use of historical images in the modeling of the Maiden-e Tekyeh reconstructions. Also some necessary functions were suggested for new spaces such as commercial services, a motel and a theater [4] (Figures 9 and 10).
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Conclusion The city center of Shahr-e Rai around the holly shrine of Hazrat-i-Abdul Azim dates back to the ninth century A.D as rural nucleus. The district was changed to city during the Qajarian era, when an urban skeleton was created. Modern progression of the city began in the first Pahlavi era and after some gradual extension, governmental structures were built and measures such as the widening of Mozaffari Street and the destruction of monuments took place. Also, during the second Pahlavi era, several historic areas were destroyed when the Mausoleum of Reza Shah was constructed. During the first decade after Islamic Revolution (1979-1990), the region was stagnant but after those years, the holy shrine was expanded for reasons such as physical decay and the visitors welfare. Nevertheless, in the new design, cultural heritage and conservation values were not considered by the managers and designers. As a first step towards the conservation of the city center,
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Figure 10. Proposed design of a section of Maidan-e Tekyeh.

the expansion program should be stopped. In addition, a new core and buffer zones based on the historical documentation and cultural landscape should be proposed. Another suggestion is the organization of visitors' requirements, especially in temporary residential, traffic problems and welfare services. It is necessary to restore and rehabilitate the site historic buildings, and also to propose a plan to develop interest-free loans for residents. The proposals would be better done if in collaboration between the historic city municipality, cultural heritage experts, holly shrine estate managers and inhabitants. Notes This paper is based on the master thesis Conservation and Restoration - Renovation and Rehabilitation of Shahr-e-Rei City Center, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design in Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), supervised by Dr Asghar Mohammad Moradi and advised by Dr Esmaeil Shieh, June 2008. References [1] H. Kariman, Ancient Rei, 2 volumes, Shahid Beheshti University Press, Tehran, 1993 [2] A. A. Fatholahi Fard, Management of the fabric around Abdollazim Tomb, Master thesis, Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University, Tehran, 1994 [3] A. Ghaedan, Abdollazim Holly Shrine Estate in the past and present, Dar-Alhadis Press, Qom, 2005
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[4] V. Heidary, Conservation and Restoration Renovation and Rehabilitation of Shahr-e-Rei City Center, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design in Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), June 2008

VAHID HEIDARI Architectural Conservator E-mail: vahidary@gmail.com Vahid Heidary has a BA in Architectural Conservation from the Faculty of Iran Cultural Heritage Organization (2005) and a MA in Urban and Architectural Conservation from the Iran University of Science and Technology (2008). He has published several articles in architecture history and conservation. He is now working as project manager in the Department of Cultural Heritage of a consultancy firm in Tehran and teaches conservation courses at the Art and Architecture Faculty of Semnan University in Semnan, Iran.
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documentatio

3D DOCUMENTATION USING TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING OF THE REMAINS OF THE JESUIT MISSION IN THE REGION OF LAKE TANA, ETHIOPIA

By Christian Dietz Gianluca Catanzariti Pablo de la Presa Vctor M. Fernndez Alfredo Jimeno Martnez

3D IN LAKE TANA, ETHIOPIA

Between 1603 and 1633, the religious order of the Jesuits managed to establish Catholicism as official religion in Ethiopia, period in which land grants were conceded, associated to a considerable foreign building activity. Nowadays, most of the remains are badly preserved and situated in remote sites, causing problems concerning documentation, conservation and research on that particular cultural heritage. In the present work, terrestrial middle range laser scanning was applied to produce three dimensional digital models of Jesuit remains in the northwestern region of Lake Tana. An overview about the sites history, the instrumentation used and the workflow in data evaluation is given, followed by five practical examples covering all the Jesuit remains in the mentioned region. A special focus is dedicated to the possibility to obtain reflectographic data and to the importance of integrating into such models information achieved by other techniques, such as ground penetrating radar.

Introduction Historical background During his second attempt to enter Ethiopia in 1603, the Madrilenian Jesuit Pedro Pez Jaramillo finally managed to reach the mission base established in Fremona, situated in the northern region of Tigray. From there he headed south, entering the Amhara region where soon he got into contact with the Abyssinian king Za Dengel, who invited him to join his court in Dnqz. Driven by intrigues of other Ethiopian aristocrats against him and also impressed by both language skills and knowledge of local customs of the missionary, Za Dengel converted from Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church to Catholicism. This decision resulted not too fortunate and soon afterwards, after intending to change some religious rules, a civil war broke out in which course the sovereign was killed in 1604, while Pez retired to Fremona. When Susenyos defeated Za Dengels successor Yaqob in the battle of Gol in 1606 and assumed the throne a year later, Pez reestablished contact with the king, who not only kept Catholicism as official religion and tolerated the Jesuit Missions, but became a personal friend of the Jesuit, again inviting him to Dnqz. In between the results of
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the kings favors were an important number of land grants to the Jesuits, the most significant one in Gorgora Nova, located on a peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Tana, the countrys largest lake and a preferred site to establish summer residences of the Ethiopian kings. At this site, first a royal residence and later, in 1626, after Pezs death, a Jesuit church with various annexing buildings were constructed. King Susenyos had his residence there between 1611 and 1618 (whose ruins have disappeared, possibly because the buildings were made with dry stone without mortar) and converted to Latin faith in an official ceremony in 1621, most probably to reinforce his political power and his independence from the influential Orthodox clergy. In that period, another palace and a Royal bath (water pool) were built in Azz, where also, during 1621-1628, the Jesuits further constructed a wall fortified church and residence buildings aside. When Pedro Pez died in 1622, he was replaced by Afonso Mendez, who is thought to be responsible for the decline of the relations between the governing party and the Catholic Church, causing such social unrest that Susenyos had to resign in favor of his son Fasilidas. The latter expelled the Jesuits in 1633 and restored the Orthodox Church,
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with which the 30 years time span of Jesuit influence in the country came to an end. Close to the complex of Azz, Fasilidas founded in 1635 the administrative and imperial capital of Ethiopia for the next century and half in Gondar. Since that period, the sites with Jesuit remains were progressively abandoned, suffered earthquakes, fire, disintegration and invasions from neighboring Muslim Sudan and are nowadays in a very deteriorated state, also partly because they are located in remote areas of rather difficult access. In 2006, 400 years after the entry of Pedro Pez, and following an application of the Complutense University of Madrid, the Ethiopian government officially launched archaeological investigations on the Jesuit Mission in the region of Lake Tana, basically centered on identification, designation and consolidation of sites of interest, photographic and topographic documentation and test and open-area excavations. During various campaigns [1-3] carried out between 2006 and 2012, it became evident that the fade-out of the above ground remains is rapidly ongoing, for example most of the east wall the church in Gorgora Nova still wearing the commencement of its original arched structure, collapsed in 1995, leaving intact only a small portion at the eastern end of the structure. 3D Laser Scanning In this context, a high resolution three dimensional digital model of such sites provides an extraordinary tool for documentation of the degree of conversation of the buildings at a given time [4]. It may further aid planning their consolidation and partly reconstruction and supports a future development and promotion of the region for tourism. Since portable middle range laser scanning devices became available at the beginning of the
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millennium, these instruments are increasingly used in architecture [5, 6], civil engineering and cultural heritage [7-9]. They also provide 3D models of underground structures such as caves [10, 11]. The instruments are based upon a direct, time-based system of measurement. The most commonly used mechanisms of data capture is the time-of-flight approach, were an emitted laser pulse is reflected from the target surface back to a detector, which is measuring the time interval between emission and reception. From the time delay and the speed of light in air, the distance to the target is calculated. With this procedure, ranges of about 100 m and a resolution between 3 and 10 mm are typically achieved at a velocity of 2.000 to 50.000 points per second. The latter can be further enhanced to about 250.000 points per second, using phase shift technology. Here, incoherent light modulated in amplitude is emitted. The backscattered reflections are compared by a circuit determining the phase difference between sent and received waveforms, which is also a time delay. During the measuring of an object, the equipment realizes an automatic scan over its surface, precisely determining the distances following a previously established standard. The polar coordinates with respect to the center of the coordinate system are achieved by codifiers which are determining the horizontal and vertical angles of the pulse projection. With these elements and the measured distance, the spatial coordinates of each point can be defined. The aperture angle of the emitted light beam limits the resolution of the exploration. The resulting non-structured point clouds are subject to subsequent computing allowing to obtain the geometric characteristics which define the three dimensional model. Though, due to the versatility of the technique and multiple possible products, nowadays the majority of the applications of this non-invasive
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infrared laser operating at 20 mW (class 3R) with a circular beam diameter at exit of 3.3 mm. Its range is from 0.6 to 76 m, achieving a resolution of 0.6 mm and a measurement speed of 120.000 points per second. The horizontal view is 360 while the vertical view is restricted to 320, the system is equipped with an inclination sensor and has a built-in Pentium III PC, allowing its remote control via WLAN and external laptop. Further accessories were the Faro LS power base for field operation and carbon fiber tripod. Figure 1 shows an image of the equipment employed. The color option consists in mounting a digital camera equipped with fisheye lenses onto the scanner using a non-parallax support, after the regular scan the camera is manually placed in the optical path of the laser beam taking a series of images. The scanner software then associates a RGB value to each point of the point cloud; by this a colored 3D model can be achieved. Nonetheless, in the present case the preferred strategy consisted in taking images apart in order to save battery lifetime of the scanner and to apply these later onto the meshed surface of the models during data treatment.

Figure 1. Readily mounted Faro Photon 80 (above) working in Debsan and the device equipped with color option (below).

survey technique are centered in the fields of engineering or architecture, its use in archaeology and cultural heritage has experienced an important growth over the last years [12].

Methodologies Strategy for data capture Prior to data capture, each site had to be cleaned from vegetation and weed blocking the sight on the structure to be scanned, though bigger trees and adult climbing plants often could not be removed. Steep slopes and unevenness of the terrain frequently further hampered the selection of appropriate scan positions. One has to keep in mind that with incrementing distance of the
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Instrumentation The instrument used in the current work was a Faro Photon 80, a compact, accurate and fast middle range scanner making use of phase shift technology. The system is equipped with a 785 nm
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scanner to the object, precision of the measurement will decrease, other limitations are due to the minimum distance to the object, field of vision, material properties of the object and incidence angle of the laser to its surface. Then, reference targets have to be distributed in a way that a minimum of three are visible with sufficient resolution in two subsequent scans, otherwise it will be impossible to register them into a unified model. Two different references were employed, 150 mm diameter spherical targets covered by an IR- reflecting paint layer (Faro Reference Sphere Set), these were placed on tripods and homemade checker board targets (2727 mm), which were stuck to the walls. As compromise conditions between measurement time, data volume and required resolution, a value of 20 mm was considered to be acceptable; this can be achieved by a fraction of a quarter of the instruments maximum resolution which then works with a pulse repetition frequency of 3 Hz and a pulse duration of 0,00190 seconds. Prior to each scan, a low resolution (1/32) 360 scan was taken, from this data the exact area of interest for higher resolution could be defined in terms of the corresponding

horizontal and vertical angles. The achieved point clouds were then downloaded to an external PC for post processing. Data processing For further optimization of the data, first a series of filters were applied to each scan. A filter is a mathematical algorithm allowing to correct or to remove scan points according to a previously selected threshold. Table I summarizes the applied filters and corresponding filter settings. Figure 2 shows an example of a single scan before and after filtering, in this particular case data volume could be reduced from 120 to 40 MB. Once done, local references have to be identified in each scan and to be aligned into a global coordinate system, a process known as registering. The search for unequivocal sets of references becomes increasingly difficult with rising number of scans to be registered in a single model. Additional references visible in the scans such as planes, corner points, slabs or similar may be

Table I. Filters and settings applied to the raw data.

Filter
Stray

Function

Set Values

Removes scan points resulting from hitting two Grid size: 3 pixel objects with the laser spot or by hitting no object Distance threshold: 0.02 m at all. Allocation threshold: 50 % Removes scan points outside a selected distance range from the scanner. Removes points with too much noise based upon the reflective value. Minimizes noise on surfaces, replacing the measured value of a scan point with the mean value from its surrounding area. Tool to manually cut selected areas Minimum distance: 0m Maximum distance: 50 m Reflectance threshold: 100 Grid size: 3 pixels Distance threshold: 0.02 m No default value

Distance
Dark points Smooth Cut off

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Figure 2: Original scan data (above) and filtered scan of the entrance tower in Azz (below). In the latter, the identified local references are also shown and the grayscale was inverted for better visibility.

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Figure 3. Map of the region of Gondar with the situation of the archaeological sites marked with pins. UMT coordinates are given for remote sites. Danqaz: 354018 E, 1382071 N (1), Gorgora Nova: 30535 E, 134880 N (2), Debsan: 0353117 E, 1356142 N (3) and Azz (4). Modified from Google Maps.

also used, nonetheless, from a certain number (about 15) aligned scans onwards registration does not properly work. In these cases, scans are grouped into clusters which are later blockwise registered. For data capture, Faro Record software was used. Coarse filtering and registration was carried out with Faro Scene v4.7, which also provides 2D and 3D views of the registered models. Point clouds can further be meshed with this program and be exported in various formats. For further filtering and modeling, JRC Reconstructor, AutoCad 2011, Geomagic Studio 10, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Fast Stone Image Viewer and Autodesk 3Ds Max 2010 software packages were employed.

In the following, a brief description of each prospected site will be given, followed by a description of information related with the data capture and a selection of the elaborated products pinpointing the most relevant aspects documented at each place. Dnqz In this small village (pin 1 in Figure 3), situated at an altitude of 2720 m and not connected to the road network, two of the most important monuments of the of king Susenyos reign, the Royal Palace and a cathedral are located [13]. As a passing remark we would like to mention that earlier information concerning the rather hostile habitants of this remote village could be confirmed. The palace complex was formerly surrounded by a now ruined wall with gate. Its northeast face was built close to a scarped canyon, which at some 800 m difference in altitude connects with
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Results and Discussion In Figure 3, a large scale map containing the surveyed sites in presented.
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Figure 4. 3D view of the whole complex, including cistern. The presentation is in clear view mode, introducing transparency into the front panels of the structures. The scan positions are indicated.

the valley of Ghedam Giyorgis. The northeastern part of the building is the best preserved, conserving plaster wearing wall panels up to the height of the disappeared roof. The rest of the structure has been collapsing, leaving only a few meters height of the walls. The debris of the collapse has possibly covered the carved elephants, horses and cavalrymen as well as inscriptions that were found during a visit in the 1830s [14]. Left of the entrance gate, a cistern supported by 12 arches is built into the ground; access is granted by an internal staircase. With dimensions of approximately 14 5.5 8.3 m, it is possibly one of the largest antique structures of this type in East Africa. For documentation of the cistern, three 360 scans from inside the structure were taken. The palace
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was covered by a total of 16 scans from different angles and positions. Data was separated into two clusters, which were registered making use of circular and checkerboard targets. The two clusters (Figure 4) had to be aligned manually, using the correspondence view function of Faro Scene, because the pixel size of common references was not high enough to be used for that purpose. Figure 5 presents a cross section through a room in the best preserved part of the palace. The holes where the baulks carrying the three floors of the building, the shape of the different windows as well as the remains of a chimney in the basement can be clearly distinguished.

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Figure 5. High resolution 3D view of a room at the north-east end of the palace (left). The right image shows an outside view picture of this part of the palace with the equipment working.

From the precise geometrical documentation, the maximum volume the cistern once was able to store could be calculated. Taking into account that the cistern was equipped with a spillover situated at the downer end of the arched structure (maximum filling height) and the displacement of the staircase, this volume is about 462 m3, assuring the necessary water supply in an uphill area with no direct access to rivers or creeks nearby. As can be seen in Figure 6, the scanning resolution was high enough to capture even small graffiti paintings and carvings now present in the plaster covering the staircase which gives access to the cistern. Figure 7 shows a cross section of the whole structure.

In a previous investigation, it could be proven that scan data provided by reflection of infrared laser light is not only useful to record geometric details of the target, but also to exploit the fact that IR light will penetrate more than visible light into a given surface. Analogue to reflectographic techniques, though restricted to a single wavelength, this may help to detect features that are not visible to the human eye, in particular underdrawings in paintings [15]. At a wall situated at the left side of the main exit from the complex, some unique paintings showing two dogs in perspective view are documented [13], though up to date these have been nearly entirely vanished. At first sight, the eye and some lines of the upper dog's head are the only clearly visible features. In order to check whether the scanner is able to
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Figure 6. Details of the staircase giving access to the cistern. The left image shows the digital of a contrast enhanced black/white photograph of the lower part of the cisterns staircase, while the right image is the corresponding section of a 2D view of the scanned model.

Figure 7. Cross section through the 3 D model of the cistern. The contribution of one single scan to the overall model is shadowed in yellow.

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Figure 8. High resolution scan of the part of the entrance wall wearing drawings. Overlaid in gray, an interpretation of the drawing based upon analysis of digital photographs. In blue, corrected geometry and position of some known traces, in red, lines which could not be identified in pictures. B is a digital photograph of the present appearance of the corresponding zone.

detect traces of pigments still enclosed in the plaster, the corresponding area was scanned in very high resolution (half of the maximum provided by the instrument). Unfortunately, the pigments employed in the artwork seemed not be particularly sensible to infrared radiation, hence the achieved contrast of the high resolution scan shows not substantially more contrast than the corresponding digital image. In the former, the gray scale reflects the measured intensity value for the backscattered 785 nm laser radiation; the latter records color information in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum (380-759 nm). In grey scale, the human eye is able to discriminate about forty different tones only; meanwhile about 200 colors can be distinguished. Changing the intensity, about 500 additional brightness values for each color tone can be achieved and, finally, if the white balance is varied, there are another 20 colors per tone, summing up about 20 million colors. This evidently helps when trying to optimize the contrast of desired features in order to make them better visible.

Nonetheless, the 2D view of the scanned area provides valuable additional information. First, a geometrically correct model of exact dimensions can be elaborated; in former attempts, evident distortions were introduced when using non-rectified digital photographs (blue lines in Figure 8). And second, some traces of the drawings (red lines in Figure 8), which were not visible using digital imagery, could be identified using their reflective values in the infrared region of the spectrum. The remains of the cruciform Catholic church of Dnqz, which received the distinction of cathedral in Ethiopia, are situated about 300 m south of the Royal Palace, although it is not clear whether the construction was ever finished. It is of pure Portuguese style, cruciform with a nave of about 27 m length and two smaller naves attached perpendicularly. The principal arches as well as a considerable part of the wall structures are still conserved. Figure 9 shows an orthogonal view onto the model of the cathedral, accurately outlining its ground plan. With the tomograph function provided by the Faro Scene software, a model
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Figure 9. Orthophoto taken from the registered and filtered model of the Cathedral in Dnqz.

Figure 10. View into the last room of the central nave, still preserving Rosetta stones. One of the two conserved main arches can also been distinguished.

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Figure 11. Low resolution clear view visualization of the combined 3D model for Gorgora Nova.

Gorgora Nova The complex of Gorgora Nova, also known as Mariam Ghimb, is possibly the most known legacy of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia. Situated about 65 km south of Gondar, close to the north shore of Lake Tana, it comprises a church and an impressive quadrangular building of 3535 m, terminated with four towers at the edges, two of which are still conserved. In its inner courtyard, the remains of an Orthodox church of later construction can be found. The original Jesuit church was situated at the north end of the complex. It has been entirely collapsed, only some outer wall fragments and a small part of the apse, wearing an impressive decoration of rosette carved stones, are conserved. Due to the dimensions of the area, its documentation had to be carried out in three subsequent working sessions. The first started at the Eastern tower, following the interior wall until reaching the rests of the Jesuit church with a total of 16 scan positions. The second session started at the
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Figure 12. The conserved part of the abside of the Jesuit church in Gorgora Nova in inverted color scale.

can be cut into slices of desired orientation and position; these can be exported in different formats, allowing their integration into computer aided design applications such as AutoCad. Figure 10 gives an example of a 3D look into the preserved smaller nave and the room closing the cruciform structure.

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apse of the Jesuit church, following the outer part of the Eastern walls until reaching the tower scanned the day before, with a total of 23 scan positions. The last day, the remaining part of the area was covered, including the western wall structures, the interior of the patio and the zone of the collapsed church, with a total of 10 scan positions. The interior of five of the eight rooms of the building were also scanned during this session. The corresponding data was grouped into three clusters that were then aligned using external references. Figure 11 gives an east-west view of Gorgora Nova. At the right side of the image, the eight conserved rooms and the two towers closing the building can be seen. In the center of the patio, the remains of the Orthodox church can be distinguished. At the left side, the collapsed Jesuit church with the single arched structure is seen still standing. The black circles are areas of lower data density due to the blind angle beneath each scan position. A detail of the latter is shown in Figure 12, the metallic and wooden supports constructed in 2008 to maintain the integrity of the structure can also be distinguished. The geometric patterns which can be seen at the wall in the background are due to shadows caused by the supports from this scan position. Debsan Rather than a church, this building of dimensions of 24 x 8 x 6 m was most probably dedicated to residence and study of a part of the Jesuit community in the region. Its remains are situated on a hill elevated some 80 m above the surrounding ground and at an altitude above sea level of 2100 m. The site can be reached from Gondar following the Road to Bahir Dar for 35 km until the village of
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Infraz, then heading south for another 2,5 km. The site itself is inaccessible by car. Perfectly defended by the hill and a stone wall surrounding the building, the site is equipped with a 11 x 4 m and 3 m deep water basin, has sight to Lake Tana to the east and to another hill about 3,5 km south, where the castle of Guzara was later constructed. The building was scanned from a total of 16 scan positions from inside and outside the structure which were then registered into a single model. The open water basin could not be scanned because it was completely overgrown by vegetation. The model was then meshed into 27 aligned fractions, on the surface of these a total of 66 digital photographs were projected. The photos were previously treated in Photoshop in order to achieve uniform color and illumination conditions. In this photogrammetry approach, a minimum of 10 coinciding points in three dimensions had to be defined between the meshed scan and each picture. Figure 13 shows the eastern storefront of the building. The arched main entrance, two doors corresponding to the first room, other two corresponding to the second and to the last room, respectively and a window of the last room can be seen. Cut offs at the top right end of the entrance and are zones of dense vegetation of climbing plants that had invaded the wall structure (Figure 1). Their moving leaves inhibited successful correspondence search between pictures and scan data. For the fraction of non-colored ground floor under the entrance, no pictures covering this particular area were available. In figure 14, three arched door structures built in brick stone are visible. From all the investigated
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Figure 13 (upper). Colored East view of the storefront of the Jesuit building in Dnqz and its arched main entrance. Box symbols correspond to scan positions. Red networks indicate planes used for registration; the yellow symbols represent checkerboard targets. Figure 14 (lower). Colored and meshed 3D view of the last room in the Debsan residence building. Points on checkerboards and other features are defining coincidences between applied pictures and scan data.

Jesuit constructions, this single room was the only place were fired clay ceramic was employed in the construction. Due to the scarceness of this building material in Jesuit remains, samples were taken for their ongoing investigation using archeomagnetic techniques. Azzo The site of Azzo-Gnnat Iysus (Jesus Paradise, or Garden) is situated about 5 km south of Gondar,
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Ethiopia, just in front of the citys airport. In 1624, king Susenyos constructed a palace there, which has been already described in literature [16] but whose exact localization nowadays has been lost. The building was associated to a garden and royal bath facilities. During the same period, Jesuits constructed the wall fortified church and residence buildings at the site. Above ground, remains are nowadays scarce in this vast area and the correct archaeological
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Figure 15. Extract from a topographical map of the Azz hill area, elaborated by V. del Arco Sanz and E. Martn Agndez, 2009. Figure 16. Digital Terrain model of the fortified wall structure including view of the recently unearthed circular tower (downright corner). Scan positions are marked. Overlay with previously achieved GPR data.

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interpretation of the different construction phases is still not complete [17]. To support this investigation, a geophysical prospection using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was carried out in 2009, during which a total number of 13 areas of potential archaeological interest could be identified in five different areas, mostly situated in the vicinity of the Jesuit church. The best preserved structures, to which the documentation campaign was limited, are a circular tower with a piece of adjacent wall at the north entrance to the area and the fortified wall structure enclosing the area of the Jesuit church (Figure 15). The entrance tower, already represented in Figure 2, was scanned at very high resolution (half of the maximum) from seven different positions. The fortified wall and the enclosed area were documented from a total of 31 scan positions, distributed over three daily sessions. During registration of the latter, the south, west and east parts of the wall could be mounted into a single model, but the data did not contain sufficient common references to join the north part as well. Hence this was done manually in the correspondence view screen of the Faro Scene software. From an orthophoto of this data, a detailed outline of the area could be obtained, including more recently excavated features like another circular tower at the south-east corner of the fortified wall, which can be distinguished in Figure 15. A very interesting approach is the integration of 3D scan and GPR data. In this way, above ground structures can be documented with high resolution, the surface may be defined by a digital terrain model derived from the point clouds and underground features can be represented as three dimensional time/depth slices of the anomalies
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detected by the radar. The GPR data shown in Figure 16 represents the projection onto a horizontal plane of data the sampled in a depth between 0.3 and 0.6 m. Red or yellow color correspond to high amplitude signals related to the presence of reflectors, while green to white tones are related to weak signals and hence to the absence of reflectors. The previously excavated remains of the church, situated in the white square in the middle of the figure, were not prospected, due to the presence of coarse stones, elevated some decimeters above ground. This integrated data contains the most complete information which nowadays can be achieved by the application of non-invasive, remote sensing techniques to a given archaeological context. The latter, combined with a very intuitive graphical representation, represents a novel and extremely useful tool for investigation, planning of interventions and divulgation in archaeology and related disciplines.

Conclusions Four different localizations related to the 17th century Jesuit Missions in the region of Lake Tana, Ethiopia were documented using terrestrial infrared laser scanning with phase shift technology. In only 24 working days, a total of 7 structures or areas of considerable extension were scanned with high precision, covering all the known Jesuit remains in that area. A workflow for data capture and elaboration is proposed. Possible products that can be derived from obtained point cloud data comprise, but are not restricted to, fully measurable 2D and 3D models of the scanned structures, orthophotos, single or multiple slices to produce multiview orthographic projections, meshed models that may be used to apply pictures on their surface, colored point clouds,
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digital elevation models and, up to certain extend, reflectographic data. The data can be further exported to be used in other 2D (AutoCad) or 3D (3D StudioMax, JRC Reconstructor, Geomagic) environments to make the model fit for purpose, e.g. measurements or representation. By the integration of scanning and radar data, hence covering all the potential of two up to date remote sensing techniques, a highly valuable tool can be made available to investigation in archeology. By further computing in dedicated software, the data may be used for the production of fly through videos, virtual reconstructions, etc., which may then be employed for site promotion, presentation in dedicated museums, investigation and conservation.

References [1] V.M. Fernndez, Arqueologa de las misiones jesuitas ibricas en Etiopia (1614-1633), Informes y trabajos del IPCE n1 - Excavaciones en el exterior 2007, 2008, pp. 39-44 [2] V.M. Fernndez, J. de Torres, J. Almansa, Arqueologa de las misiones ibricas del siglo XVII en la regin del Lago Tana (Etiopia), Informes y trabajos del IPCE n3 - Excavaciones en el exterior 2008, 2009, pp. 45-51 [3] V.M. Fernndez, J. de Torres, J. Almansa, C. Caete, D. Tibebu, G. Belay, Arqueologa de las misiones ibricas del siglo XVII en la regin del Lago Tana (Etiopia, estado regional de Amhara). Informe preliminar sobre las excavaciones de 2009 en el yacimiento de Azz, Informes y trabajos del IPCE n5 - Excavaciones en el exterior 2009, 2011, pp. 78-91 [4] A. Guarnieri, F. Pirotti, A. Vettore, Cultural heritage interactive 3D models on the web: An approach using open source and free software, Journal of Cultural Heritage 11(3), 2010, pp. 350-353 [5] J.A. Beraldin, F. Blais, P. Boulanger, L. Cournoyer, J. Domey, S.F. El-Hakim, G. Godin, M. Rioux, J. Taylor, Real world modelling through high resolution digital 3D imaging of objects and structures, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing 55, 2000, pp. 230250 [6] M.A. Nez Andrs, F. Buill Pozuelo, Evolution of the architectural and heritage representation, Landscape and Urban Planning 91, 2009, pp. 105112 [7] J.L. Lerma Garca, B. van Genechten, E. Heine, M. Santana Quintero (eds.), Theory and Practice
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Acknowledgments The archaeological team in charge of the excavations carried out simultaneously to the 3D documentation is gratefully acknowledged (V. Fernndez, M.L. Garca, J. de Torres, the latter providing the interpretation of the dog's drawings in Dnqz, and C. Caete). The same applies to the local authorities accompanying including some troublesome trips (Dawit Tibebu, and Abebe Mengistu). Thanks also to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and to the Spanish embassy in Addis Ababa for great help organizing the transport of the equipment. A big hug to our driver, Workene Mekonnen, who even managed to get us out of a pretty crowded celebration of TimKat (epiphany) in the middle of nowhere. Last but not least we are indebted to the Spanish Ministry of Culture for financing the different projects carried out in Ethiopia.
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on terrestrial laser scanning. Training material based on practical applications, Editorial Universidad Politcnica de Valencia, Spain, 2008 [8] N. Yastikli, Documentation of cultural heritage using digital photogrammetry and laser scanning, Journal of Cultural Heritage 8, 2007, pp. 423-427 [9] P. Martn Lerones, J. Llamas Fernndez, A. Melero Gil, J. Gmez-Garca-Bermejo, E. Zalama Casanova, A practical approach to making accurate 3D layouts of interesting cultural heritage sites through digital models, Journal of Cultural Heritage 11, 2010, pp. 19 [10] H. Rther, M. Chazan, R. Schroeder, R. Neeser, C. Held, S.J. Walker, A. Matmon, L. Kolska Horwitz, Laser scanning for conservation and research of African cultural heritage sites: the case study of Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2009, pp. 1847-1856 [11] J.L. Lerma, S. Navarro, M. Cabrelles, V. Villaverde, Terrestrial laser scanning and close range photogrammetry for 3D archaeological documentation: the Upper Palaeolithic Cave of Parpall as a case study, Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 2010, pp. 499507 [12] D. Barber, J. Mills, D. Andrews, 3D laser scanning for heritage. Advice and guidance to users on laser scanning in archaeology and architecture, 2nd ed., English Heritage, Swindon, UK, 2011, URL [13] F. Anfray, Les monuments gondariens des XVIIme et XVIIIme sicles. Une vue d'ensemble, Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Volume 1, University of Addis Ababa, 1984, T. Beyene (ed.), Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, 1989, pp. 9-45
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[14] E. Combes, M. Tamisier, Voyage en Abyssinie, dans le pays de Galla, de Choa et dIfat, prcd dune excursion dans lArabie heureuse, et accompagn d'une carte de ces diverses contres (1835 1837), Vol. 2, Louis Desssart, Paris, 1838, pp. 29 [15] C. Dietz, G. Catanzariti, A. Jimno Martnez, IR reflectography using 3D laser scanning, econservation magazine 18, 2011, pp. 32-42, URL [16] C. Beccari (ed.), Rerum Aethiopicarum Scriptores Occidentales Inediti a Saeculo XVI ad XIX, 15 vols., Casa Editrice Italiana, Roma, 1903-1917 [17] I. Campbell, Portuguese and Indian Influences on the Architecture of the Lake Tana Region: An Inquiry into the Role of Gnt Iysus, chapter 4, in M.J. Ramos, I. Boavida (eds.), The Indigenous and the Foreign in Christian Ethiopian Art: On Portuguese-Ethiopian Contacts in the 16th-17th Centuries: Papers from the Fifth International Conference on the History of Ethiopian Art, Arrbida, 26-30 November 1999, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Hants, England, 2004, pp. 37-47

CHRISTIAN DIETZ Contact: cdietz@quim.ucm.es Christian Dietz received his MSc from Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in 1995. He then moved to Complutense University of Madrid, where he obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 2001. The following 7 years of investigation, at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, were mainly devoted to instrumental and method development in metal speciation analysis, with a special focus on sample treatment, but as well bio-environmental studies
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in general and waste water management in particular. In 2008 he was involved in the establishment of the Centre for Archaeometry and Archaeological Analysis (C.A.I. AAA) at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he currently works dedicated to instrumental analysis and dating of a wide range of archaeological artefacts. He also covers noninvasive survey techniques in archaeology such as geophysical prospections and laser scanning.

has developed tasks relating to GIS, land survey and remote sensing. In line with this occupation, he has participated in field courses dedicated to Mapping in Archaeology and Heritage, organized in collaboration with several European Universities, where he specialized in laser scanning techniques. Currently he works in an engineering company that carries out 3D documentation, mainly on railways and tunnels.

GIANLUCA CATANZARITI Contact: gcatanza@fis.ucm.es Gianluca Catanzariti received his MsC in Geological Science from the Universit degli Studi di Torino (Italy) in 1999. Currently he is working on his PhD thesis centred on archaeomagnetic measurements at the Faculty of Physics, Dpt. of Earth Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. At the same time he is employed as technician at the universities Centre for Archaeometry and Archaeological Analysis, where is is mainly devoted to geophysical prospection methods such as ground penetrating radar, a field where he also holds years of experience at an Italy based private company. Further he is a specialist in archaeomagnetic dating techniques and was actively involved in the establishment of the paleosecular calibration curve for the Spanish Peninsula.

VCTOR M. FERNNDEZ Contact: victormf@ghis.ucm.es Vctor Fernndez is professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University Complutense of Madrid. He has participated in several archaeological research projects in several countries, among which Spain (Roman, 1978-1981, Iron Age, 1984-1991), Sudan (Meroitic, Kerma, MesolithicNeolithic, 1978-2000) and Ethiopia (PrehistoricEthnoarchaeology 2001-2005; Jesuit Missions of the 17th century, 2006-2012).

ALFREDO JIMENO MARTNEZ Contact: aljimen@ghis.ucm.es Alfredo Jimeno graduated in History and Archaeology at the University of Zaragoza, where he obtained his PhD in 1981. He presently teaches at the Complutense University in 1986. Apart from his common academic activities, he has been appointed Director of the C.A.I. AAA 2007. His extensive research activities focus on the early history of the Spanish Central Plateau, covering the Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Romanization. Currently, he is a member of the Scientific Committee of "Duques de Soria" foundation and of the Editorial Board of the U.C.M. "Complutum" magazine.
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PABLO DE LA PRESA Contact: delapresa.topografia@gmail.com Pablo de la Presa received his Bachelor from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2010. He is member of the investigation group Landscape Archaeology at the Department of Prehistory in the Complutense University of Madrid, where he
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BETWEEN TRADITION AND INNOVATION: 3D DOCUMENTATION OF ENNAS MONUMENTS

By Antonella Versaci Alessio Cardaci

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The most important value of pictures, though often neglected, is that they are an inexhaustible source of knowledge for both architectural historians and restoration architects. Nowadays, tools for sharing photo albums like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, etc., fulfil an essential function of "reality documentation. The new generation of laser scanners can deliver accurate measurements of architectural structures and their environment, and also makes it possible to publish scanned data on the Internet. Differently from images, however, the model obtained from a point cloud is an enormous catalogue, a sort of "solid" photograph which allows the material state of an architectural object to be penetrated. This paper aims to address the issue of the new frontier represented by laser scanning methodology and its usefulness in the field of documenting cultural assets, starting from the objectives (and showing the first results) of a wide-ranging project of Web-documentation of Central Sicilys cultural heritage.

Introduction Paintings, etchings and lithographs are a way of documenting and journeying into the past. Today, these works of art offer a visual record of monuments, landscapes and urban sites; they contain a lot of important data and this information can be an extremely useful aid to understanding cultural heritage in urban and historic sites. The lithographic prints made by Grand Tour travellers (even allowing for the possible subjectivity of the artists interpretation), the guides, the albums and the collections of images especially created to increase the aesthetic and cultural values of private libraries, provide an iconographic description (and at the same time a catalogue) of an architectural heritage and landscape that are not always recognizable today. Photography later supplemented and developed this documentary role of paintings, although it did not completely overcome the constraints arising from the personal vision of the photographer. With the advent of social networks, the role of photography, once restricted by the local diffusion environment and limited by the heaviness of paper, crossed many of its borders. Tools for sharing photo albums like Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, etc., allowing people almost instantly to share
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photos taken anywhere in the world, fulfill an essential function of "reality documentation. This "random material is a public catalogue, easily accessible and continuously updated, even if still limited to the status of mere image. Nowadays, the new generation of laser scanners, ever smaller, lighter and equipped with integrated coaxial cameras, can deliver accurate measurements of architectural structures and their environment in a very short time. These instruments can provide point clouds that are in reality 3D photographs, from which a wide range of information can be extracted and they can create 3D models to be published on the Web for cataloguing and archival purposes. In particular, the FARO SCENE 4.8, the latest version of the scan processing software for the FARO Laser Scanner, incorporates the specific one-click WebShare function. This application makes it possible to publish scanned data on the Internet, thus enabling everyone to share images, including metric, technical and material property information. Unlike photographs, which deliver only the image of the monument, the 3D model can be sliced in order to obtain cross-sections and plans; it can be examined and processed to give orthophotos; finally it can yield data which is useful for understanding the chemical and physical properties of
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the artefact. Unlike images, the model obtained from a point cloud is an incredible database, a kind of "solid" photograph which allows the material state of an architectural object to be penetrated.

Surveying for restoration projects: visual perception and analysis, tradition and innovation In the past, representations of the built environment were mainly in the form of paintings and engravings, works of art that now constitute invaluable archives, for both architectural historians and restoration architects. The lithographic prints made by those who undertook the Grand Tour, the guides and albums of images designed to enhance the aesthetic and cultural values of private libraries, offer a visual record (and catalogue) of monuments, landscapes and urban sites that are often no longer recognizable. First-hand drawing was once the means of recreating and recounting the spatial feeling of the observed city; the sketch was (and still is) a plausible depiction of reality aimed at capturing the essence of the space seen by the traveller (although it was always mediated by his own personal interpretation). Historically, the survey has always been the phase immediately subsequent in the approach to places: the eidotype added metric details to spatial sensation as well as the material properties and formal aspects of the sites observed. A preliminary drawing, aimed at providing detailed scientific knowledge of the studied sites, the eidotype was, essentially, a basic document, a kind of canvas on which to set up and develop ideas [2]. The traditional technique then involved the elaboration of a mass of drawings designed to document plans, elevations and architectural details of buildings, focusing on their geometrical, linguistic and technical aspects (Figure 2). The advent of photography partially modified this approach to the city, enriching it with new contents and faces. Images obtained by cameras, seen as "fast sketchbooks [3], support the traditional drawing techniques, putting important
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An Electronic Eye Over the Historical Towns of Central Sicily The Italian island of Sicily originated from the tension that separated it from continental Europe: a violent wrench that tore it from the rest of the world to make Sicily an "island" in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. The creation of the Straits of Messina, described as a fretum terribile by Seneca, isolated Sicily and gave it both independence and the opportunity to have a centre. Its heart beats exactly where this centre is located, in the town of Enna, where the Normans built an octagonal tower to indicate the midpoint of the island, naming the town: Ombelicus Siciliae. The immediate surroundings are as rich in history as they are little known: small towns and villages for which Frederick IIs Tower is their principal point of reference (Figure 1). The main purpose of this paper is to narrate a journey through the historical towns of Central Sicily [1]. Like the old view painters, who searched out the most beautiful scenes to represent their ideal city, we technicians of the digital age also cast about for the most secret and attractive corners, for architectural perspectives that could communicate the true essence of the old island centres. The traditional pencil was combined with the electronic eye of the camera and the more advanced (lighter and faster) 3D laser scanning instrument, able to permeate the material and grasp the true nature of the architectural artefacts and of their urban contexts.
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Figure 1. The Castle of Lombardy and the tower of Federico II (image montage).

new documentary tools at our disposal. The photograph, in fact, enables the fervour of the city to be depicted. Its ability to freeze the moment and block an action can reveal moments so brief that they are normally imperceptible to the human eye. The camera offers an opportunity to create a linear and temporal chronicle through pictures, something of great value for those who work in the field of protection and raising awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage. And finally, laser scanning technology has completely revolue-conser vation

tionized the practice of surveying for restoration purposes. It offers the possibility of digitally capturing three-dimensional objects, even very complex ones, and reproducing them as point clouds, quickly and extremely accurately. Unlike a drawing, these are not planar projections of real objects, as they represent a virtual version of reality that can be investigated. A drawing can be observed only from the centre of projection from which the designer has chosen
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Figure 2. Ex Convent of Carmine (Ortophoto and 3D Scanner Model).

to represent the scene, but a point cloud can be explored from several projection centres. Indeed a point can be made to yield more than one representation by changing the point from which the architectural work and the city as a whole is observed. No less important is also the chance to investigate the morphological and/or compositional components of the 3D model obtained by laser scanning technology. From a procedural point of view, as already mentioned, the use of 3D laser scanning technology has dramatically
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reduced execution time because it unifies the initial phase of data acquisition and that of subsequent analysis. The digital sketch already provides a metric survey and characterization of the building materials of the city, observed and measured at the same time, both in its forms and in its structural components. Using this technique, the preparation of the eido-type of the object is less important than the planning of the survey, and may
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Figure 3. The Church of St. Tommaso (3D Scanner Model, 3D Cad Model and traditional draw).

even not be necessary. It is in fact possible to make a full record of the geometry of an architectural object and to postpone the extraction of the characterizing elements of the buildings and their representation through CAD [4] to the data processing phase (in the office). In the framework of our work, the digital acquisition of the monuments was carried out through the Focus3D laser scanner, an innovative instrument based on the phase shift technology
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produced by Faro Technologies, which is much faster and more accurate than the traditional time-of-flight instruments. The speed of data acquisition and measurement offered by this instrument is so high (up to 976,000 measurement points per second) as to make it more affordable (in terms of reduction of working time) to collect all information and then clean the point clouds of unnecessary data, rather than to adjust the scanning angle and the resolution in each individual scan.
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Figure 4. The Duomo of Enna (sketches and 3D Scanner Model).

One of the key parameters of the laser scanner is the scanning step: in other words, the step between two points measured by the instrument. The first scanning systems only allowed very high mesh steps (in the order of centimetres) or required higher resolution-levels, with a consequent increase in scanning time. With Focus3D, however, coloured, high-resolution point clouds (10 dpi to 10 meters), can be obtained with very short acquisition times. It should be noted that the laser scanner used is not only extraordinarily
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light (5 kg), but also includes an integrated colour camera featuring an automatic 70 megapixels parallax-free colour overlay. This has enabled point clouds to be coloured automatically, with a considerable reduction in post-processing time. Measurements were then followed by the processing of data measured in situ by the combined and integrated utilization of different software: the FARO Scene 4.8.1 and the GEXCEL JRC 3D-Reconstructor. With the first software, the clouds were first filtered and then coloured in
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Figure 5. The Church of St. Giovanni (WebShares documentation, ortophoto and traditional draw).

a very short time (Figure 3) - applying colour to a Focus3D laser scan, through the latest version of this scan processing software for the FARO Laser Scanner which used to require about 20 minutes for a medium resolution scan, now takes only less than 1 minute. Scans were finally aligned and geo-referenced by the second software in order to obtain virtual models of the monuments and of significant fragments of the towns and villages.

From graphic representation for restoration projects to web-shared cataloguing At the end of the phase of data acquisition, drawings, scans and photographs (that obtained automatically by the internal camera of laser scanner and others taken by a Canon EOS) collected during the tour, were used to represent and communicate the information obtained (Figure 4). Pictures, sketches and colours were used to flesh out the metric data of the scans, not only chromatically.
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The restitution phase allowed the point clouds to be mapped with images processed and filtered in order to highlight the state of decay of materials and the more interesting architectural elements. Tailor-made clothes were superimposed on the point clouds: additional photographs of the architectural monuments, taken at different times of the day (including night images). This is because the colorimetric information obtained by the laser scanner is no longer a simple representation of reality but may become very valuable both in the diagnostic and monitoring phases. The usual practice is to use false colours to represent the reflectance values resulting from the scans (famous is the change from green to red typical of Leica scanners, depending on temperature and reflectance variations); it is rather less usual to process images using software that can alter the RGB channels, the hue, the saturation and brightness [5]. The mapping of several images (even in this case, provided by the laser scanner and taken by the external camera) properly treated with the filters available in the most common image editing applications, allows the depiction of situations that are barely visible or completely hidden from visual examination. A filter providing edge contrast can be used to highlight masonry wall textures, the noise/grain reduction filter can hide the dark areas due to the unevenness of the plaster, allowing easier reading of the geometry, and the render lighting effect filter enables only the areas of interest to be detected by lighting them. Finally, in attempting to implement new forms of representation of the decay and deterioration of material surfaces, our scans have also been clothed by drawings mapping the decay of buildings (Figure 5).

Conclusions Integration of all these techniques has yielded a rich register that will be made universally accessible through Web platforms; its value is inestimable, not only as a basis for ensuring proper restoration, appreciation and use of the monuments now, but also in the future, to understand their evolution in the frame of an ever-changing urban environment. With the aim of creating a web-shared catalogue of the monuments of Central Sicily, the data acquired have been converted into 3D models which are gradually being published on the net. The scan processing software used for this research incorporates a specific one-click WebShare function. This application makes it possible to publish scanned data on the Internet, thus enabling everyone to share scanned images, including metric, technical and material property information. Unlike photographs, which deliver only the image of the monument, the 3D model created from a point cloud is an incredible database, a kind of "solid" image which allows us to permeate the architectural object till its material essence. It can be sliced in order to obtain crosssections and plans; it can be processed to create orthophotos; and finally it can provide useful data about the chemical and physical properties of the artifacts, as well as of their states of health. Scans data are progressively going to be converted in order to be re-used inside the free software Google SketchUp (via the related Pointools Plugin) and then exported in Google Earth. Thus, the new frontier of laser scanning methodology offers significant new opportunities for cataloguing and storing cultural goods ensuring, over time, the transmission of valuable information about their state of conservation and the restoration work carried out, in order to safeguard their authenticity.

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Acknowledgments The authors thank Dr. S. Zuccarello for the images related to the Ex Convent of Carmine, Dr. A. Canale, M. Candido, G. Felice and S. Privitera for the 3D CAD models of the Church of St. Tommaso, G. Di Bartolo, V. Dipasquale and I. Modica for the sketches of the Duomo of Enna, V. Castiglione and R. Iudica for the drawings of the Church of St. Giovanni and all the students of the Architectural Restoration Workshop (2009-2010) of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Motor Sciences of the KORE University of Enna, Italy for helpful comments.

ANTONELLA VERSACI Civil Engineer

Antonella Versaci is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of University of Enna KORE. She has a degree in Civil Engineering (University of Messina, Italy), a D.E.A. Urban and Architectural project (School of Architecture Paris-Belleville, France), as well as a Ph.D. in Architecture (University Paris VIII, France) on the subject of the French legislation for the safeguarding of historical centres. Until September 2008, she worked at UNESCO where she was in charge of cultural operational projects in South-East Europe. Since 2010, she holds the chair of Architectural Restoration at the University of Enna KORE, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. She is also director of the Survey and diagnostic applied to cultural heritage laboratory of the same Faculty.

References [1] W. Leopold, Sizilianische Bauten des Mittelalters in Castrogiovanni, Piazza Armerina, Nicosia und Randazzo, Wasmuth, Berlin, 1917 [2] G. Vassena, M. Sgrenzaroli, Tecniche di rilevamento tridimensionale tramite laser scanner, Brescia, Starrylink, 2007 [3] M. Docci, Manuale di rilevamento architettonico e urbano, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2009 [4] G. Carbonara, Trattato di restauro architettonico, Secondo Aggiornamento, Grandi temi di restauro, Torino, UTET, 2008 [5] D. Fiorani, Restauro e tecnologie in architettura, Roma, Carocci, 2009

ALESSIO CARDACI Engineer

Alessio Cardaci is a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bergamo. He obtained a Master Degree cum laude in Building Engineering (University of Messina, Italy) and a PhD in Building Engineering: Restoration Design (Department of Drawing and Design, Faculty of Engineering, University of Messina, Italy). Since 2008, he holds the chair of Drawing at the University of Bergamo, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Design and Technologies. His main research interests are based on the assessment of the capabilities of laser scanning technologies with special regard to cultural heritage survey, structural testing and diagnostic, 3D visualization and virtual reality .

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theory

BRUSHES FOR RETOUCHING: HOW TO CHOOSE THEM

By Ana Bailo Sandra usti

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Many painting conservators are often convinced that they are unable to obtain adequate retouching results due to their technique, when in reality their failure is the consequence of a poor choice of brushes. It has been observed that choosing the right brush is very important in order to fulfil all quality aspects that should be taken into consideration when planning a retouching project. This paper endeavours to provide comprehensive information about the history, examination and evaluation of brushes. It is aimed at all conservators who purchase brushes for retouching practice, with the objective to determine which are the best ones currently on the market. This study demonstrates that the shape and size of the brush must fully correspond to the technique and method of retouching, in order to obtain optimal results. The article is written by two investigators from different countries, Portugal and Croatia, who share their own personal retouching practices.

Introduction When we go to a supplier searching for a good retouching brush, what are our basic criteria? Will our selection be limited by the technique that we plan to employ or the method of retouching, or perhaps both? In order to answer this question correctly, it is important for a restorer to understand the details of this complex subject. Apart from the pigments, mediums and solvents, the most fundamental element in retouching execution is the brush itself. While it is more common to elaborate the process of the applied method and/or technique, published reports of conservators rarely show any evidence, or discussion of the tools used for paint application. It seems that the brush selection is mostly product of the current accessibility and bare intuition, rather than careful consideration of the advantages and drawbacks of the chosen tool provides. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate the sequence of the historical development of the brush and to uncover its importance in the practice of retouching. The first part of this paper is based on historical considerations of important global settings that defined the design and the application of the brush as an artistic tool. The second
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chapter will provide examination and evaluation of various brushes in order to understand their complex features when planning a retouching project. Finally, the last part of the paper deals with this issue in a practical way, where the authors will, through didactic proposals for correct brush handling, try to define the most suitable brushes for specific retouching methods and techniques.

From Creative to Suggestive Overview of the Brush Handling Due to their delicate purpose, the production of brushes has always been carried out with great care. One of the oldest types of brushes that was made of available natural materials, originated from Egyptians hieroglyphic writings. The stem of the marsh plant was obliquely cut on the edge and treated until the fibres where separated to form a gentile plume [1]. However, Asian calligraphy was perhaps one of the primary sources for the production of more the complex and sophisticated art tools named ink brushes. They where invented in China around 300 BC. The brush had a sharp tip composed of various animal hairs like that of rabbit, goat, pig, mice, wolf, and buffalo, among others. It was used as an imitation of a stylus with which the first writing was done,
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whereby the brush was held rigidly upright with the tip carefully maintained within the centre of the stroke [2]. In general, ink historically predominated the choice of the used media, generating rich and complex traditions in the East. On the other hand, over 1000 years of medieval western art was produced in numerous media that also used brush as a prime creative tool. Although the precise construction of the brush at that time is enigmatic, paintings of St. Luke the Evangelist frequently show contemporary brushes among other artistic equipment, making it possible to observe certain changes of the brush form [3]. Valuable didactic instructions on how to make brushes where first written by Cennino dAndrea Cennini in the 15th century. In his practical inscriptions he has presented two kinds of brushes: the minever brush and the hogs bristle brush. He highlights the importance of collaboration with furriers, from whom he gets tips on how to prepare certain materials and how to preserve them from moth. Namely, minever tail had to be cooked and then bound according to the required size in order to obtain high quality. For the preparation of the bristle brush, he recommended the use of hairs from domestic white hogs, rather than black [4]. In the painting treatises and manuscripts from the 16th to 17th century, Italian and English writers, such as Giovanni Battista Armenini, Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, Richard Symonds and Henry Gyles, frequently reveal descriptions of brushmaking and its handling. Two main categories of brushes still remain at that time: bristle ones made from hogs hair, and those made from finer hair such as minever and badger brushes. The fibres generally fitted into a quill in which a handle of bone or wood has been inserted [5]. The encyclopedia of Rafael Bluteau (1638-1734) entitled Vocabulario Portuguez e Latino, also contains
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information regarding the brush-making in the beginning of the 18th century. The brushes mentioned by Bluteau are made of goat, hog and badger [6]. Probably the greatest advance that has taken place is the widespread adoption of metal ferrules during the 19th century. This invention meant that the manufacturing of brushes, which used to be an empirical procedure, became a trade [5, pp.123-129]. Until that time, artists brushes were round, pointed, or oval shaped while the square, flat brushes were only introduced when impressionism became popular. Meanwhile, the spatula or pallet knife was introduced by artists as a new 'painting' tool. The spatula had the function of mixing paint on a palette or of scraping the priming over a canvas in order to achieve an even surface. It was a revolutionary step when a number of painters used this tool over a brush for the transfer of paint to the canvas and, through further manipulation, continued 'painting' with it. Also, the change from brush to spatula may have involved the question of temperament, for the method resulted in a new visual statement [7]. In the 1980s, mechanized brush making systems that could produce very acceptable medium-grade brushes were finally perfected [8, p.10]. England, France and Germany have a very long tradition of high-quality brushmaking and they are leading todays industry in Europe. The raw materials, components and manufacturing techniques are very similar, although there are very distinct differences in styling. Artists brushes are also produced in Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe. American manufacturers employ the same basic methods, materials and machines that are used in Western Europe. Their industry has been significantly influenced by European brushmakers, many of whom immigrated to North America in the early 20th century [8, p.9].
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It is obvious that the brush in its long history has achieved a large register of different sizes, shapes and fibres - suiting the artist's objective and temperament. Since every work of art steps into the process of degradation, the brush has also found its purpose in the restoration practice. There are registered notes of painters, like Sir Joshua Reynolds, who where retouching their own paintings in order to maintain their visual appearance [9]. However the most specific era of the brush exploitation in the field of restoration begins in the 19th century, in the time when conservation practice was established with first attempts of rehabilitation of the cultural heritage in United Kingdom and Germany. Back then the restorers behind their brushes where too audacious as a consequence of contemporary aesthetics [10]. But by the middle of 20th century retouching intervention was finally restrained and the border that divided retouching from recreating was strictly defined. Thus the brush has suspended its genuine creative purpose and became limited to minimum intervention, more suggestive than descriptive in the nature [11].

Tuft

Point Belly

Ferrule

Crimping Handle

Figure 1. Anatomy of a brush.

of the brush. Finally, the handle is made of hardwood selected for straightness. The examination and evaluation of brushes for retouching purposes is entirely dependent on the tuft, or more precisely, on the fibres. Their origin, texture, size and shape will define the brush properties in a certain retouching medium. According to the origin of the fibres, brushes can be divided into two basic categories, natural and synthetic. Natural fibres are composed primarily of proteins that are bonded to form a polypeptide chain. These bonds are responsible for the fibre strength and for its elasticity [12]. If natural fibres are exposed to solvent based mediums for a longer period, the molecular bonds tend to weaken and the fibres will show signs of deterioration, especially if not properly cleaned after use. Water, on the other hand, will not endanger the natural fibres structure and, thus, brushes will last longer if used in water-based mediums.
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Contemporary Brushes Examination and Evaluation Besides the industrial manufacture, relatively little has changed in the tradition of brushes and brushmaking. The anatomy of a contemporary brush is divided in three parts: tuft, ferrule and handle (Figure 1). The tuft is the bundle of fibres that holds and releases liquid paint. The visible portion of the tuft is the outer length, which consists of the belly and the tapering point in a round brush or the edge in a flat brush. The ferrule is the metal collar that connects the tuft to the handle and supports the tuft during the painting activity. It protects the end of the wood handle from moisture and determines the size and shape
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Table I. Types of brushes.

Brush Shape Round Miniature

Description and Usage Round ferrule, round or pointed tip. Useful for both washes and details, fills, and lines of various thickness. A pointed round is used for fine detail. A detailer is a pointed round with very short hair like miniature brushes. Flat ferrule, square shaped, with medium to long hairs. Provides high colour capacity. Useful for making large, sweeping strokes or even fine lines. Appropriate for heavier paint. Flat ferrule, square-ended medium to long length hairs. Short handles. Large colour carrying capacity. Useful for painting rectangular losses in a single stroke. Flat ferrule, short-length hairs, usually set in a long handle. Width and length of brush head is nearly equal. Useful for painting rounded losses with short, controlled strokes, with thick or heavy colour. Thick, flat ferrule and oval-shaped medium to long hairs. Long and short handles. Natural hair is more suitable for blending because the hairs hold together when wet. With its soft rounded edges, the filbert is suitable for blending and figurative work. Flat ferrule, spread hairs. Natural hair is more suitable for soft blending, while synthetic works well for textural effects. Useful for smoothing and blending, special effects and textures.

Fibre

All hair Synthetic Sable Mongoose Bristle Badger Synthetic Sable Squirrel Ox Synthetic Sable Mongoose Bristle Badger Synthetic Sable Mongoose Bristle Badger Synthetic Badger Bristle Synthetic

Flat

One Stroke

Bright

Filbert

Fan

Angular

Flat ferrule, short-length hairs, set with longer hairs at one end. Useful for precise strokes, and for lines and curves, with thick or heavy colour. Round ferrule, pointed, with very long hair and short handles. Large colour carrying capacity. Useful for long continuous strokes. Also known as an outliner. These appear with a square-ended brush or angled, have a flat or square tip, extra-long hairs, short handle and large colour carrying capacity. They are useful for long continuous strokes.

Bristle Synthetic Sable Ox Synthetic Sable Squirrel Synthetic

Script/Liner

Rigger

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Mop

A mop is a round wash brush made of soft natural hair. It is useful for applying paint or water at large, for wetting the surface, and for absorbing excess media. Wash brushes come in varied shapes. The oval wash has rounded hairs, flat ferrules, and produces a soft edge, with no point. This floppy brush is used for pre-wetting the paper or filling in large areas of colour. A hake brush is an oriental-style wash brush with a long flat handle. It is useful for applying paint or water in large areas, for wetting the surface and for absorbing excess media. Wash brushes come in varied shapes. The square wash can produce a variety of shapes and widths. It often has a short handle that is flat on the end, useful for scraping, burnishing. A wash brush is useful for applying paint or water in large areas, for wetting the surface and for absorbing excess media. Retouch and spotting brush has a short very sharp point that is great for detail and precision work. The lower belly and shorter hairs of a retouch brush produce a strong resilient point appropriate for work that requires maximum control. Sizes use for this propose are: 0000, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, and 3.

Squirrel

Oval Wash

Bristle Squirrel Ox Synthetic Bristle Squirrel Goat Ox Synthetic Bristle Squirrel Ox Synthetic

Hake

Square Wash

Spotting and retouching brushes

All hair Synthetic

Synthetic fibres, on the other hand, are made from synthesized polymers. The substances that are used to make these fibres come from raw materials such as petroleum-based chemicals. Although there are several different synthetic fibres, they all share one similarity: resistance to most chemicals [13]. This feature makes them an adequate choice for solvent-based retouching mediums. However, for certain retouching techniques and methods economical aspect should not interfere in the selection of the brush. According to the texture of the fibre, brushes can be divided in bristle and soft. The bristle category includes the original hog but also the synthetic stiff brushes. The fine bristles come from hogs and
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boars raised in Switzerland, China, India, France, Russia and the Balkan Mountains of Eastern Europe [14]. The length of the bristle may vary from 2.5 to 25 cm and can be black, brown, grey or white. The stability of bristle fibres in retouching mediums will depend on their origin. For example, nylon bristle is resistant to chemical effects of polar and non-polar solvents. If the brush is properly cared, the performance of the bristle does not change regardless of the solvent exposure period. Unfortunately, this is not the case with natural bristle brushes which change their mechanical properties considerably with repeated exposures to polar solvent. Due to the high ability of proteins to absorb polar solvents, bristles become too soft and chubby making them harder to control.
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Shortly, their synthetic substitutes are more suitable for solvent-based retouching mediums. The soft texture of the fibre implies brushes made of sable, ox, goat, squirrel, pony, camel and synthetic hair. These fibres can produce very soft strokes and also a very delicate and tonal fusion of colours [8, p. 161]. Because of their superior ability to absorb and hold liquid, soft fibres are adequate for glazing and applying fine details. The most delicate soft brushes are made of sable. Their conical shape and scaled surface provides unrivalled points and colour carrying capacity which makes them suitable for retouching in watercolours technique. The finest watercolour brushes are made of 100% pure male Russian Kolinsky which is very rare in modern times. Consequently, these brushes are extremely valuable and very expensive. The less expensive versions are mixtures of squirrel and pony hair. Medium and low-price wash brushes contain pure pony hair, mixtures of pony and goat hair, or goat hair, all of which are often called camel hair [8]. In addition, soft nylon and polyester fibres are a very common alternative due to technological improvements in their ability to carry a heavy load of paint. These fibres, however, still can not compete with the capacity of natural fibres [14]. Another aspect that conservators have to comprehend is the size of the brush. This is commonly done by a numeric system. However, each number does not necessarily correlate to the same size brush in different ranges. This is particularly noticeable between English, French and Japanese sizes. Therefore, it is important to compare the actual brushes rather than relying on the numbers of the brushes in the personal collection [15]. Finally, it is very important to consider the shape of the tuft and to be aware of all the properties
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that a particular shape provides (Table 1). This aspect is essential for superior performance of the selected retouching method. The tuft of the round hair brushes should be closed at the tip without any hairs standing out. It should be conical in shape rather than spread out at the end. For bristle brushes, it is important to examine if the bristles are of even thickness, and whether or not the brush has been ruined with too deep clinching of the ferrule in the middle. Also, the bristles are frequently glued by the manufacturer and, thus, these brushes must be moistened to make sure that the bristles do not stand apart.

How to Choose a Good Brush for Retouching Criteria and Recommendations Retouching is one of the most visible parts of the conservators work because this is a stage when all the modifications that have been done on the painting become most apparent. In Portugal, Spain and Italy, distinctive methods such as tratteggio and selezione cromatica are probably the most common retouching methods. One of the motives for their use is the possibility of reconstruction without creation, since creation is seen as a completed action. There are other distinctive methods such as astrazione cromatica, pointillism, and there is imitative retouch. This method of reintegration is one of the regular methods used in Croatian and British contemporary conservation practice. Referring to Brandis theoretical postulates, the concept of mimetic retouching aims for total elimination of the perception barrier caused by the paint loss while driving the spectators eye towards the whole of the painting rather than the intervention result [16]. It seems that the best brushes to perform highquality distinctive and imitative retouching are often the most expensive ones since only the best
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consistently from the brush tip and the tuft belly should be capable to lay down flowing lines of colour. Thus, a good brush for distinctive retouching should have a perfect tip, excellent capacity to return into shape, an even flow control [17] and great filament retention. Among others, there are four brushes currently on the market that can be used for distinctive retouching in easel painting and that in the authors opinion comply to these requirements: Winsor & Newton, Series 7 Miniature Kolinsky Sable Brush; Raphael, 8608 Kevrin; Raphael, 8400 Martre Kolinsky; and Maimeri Pictor Kolinsky sable brushes. Among listed, first two will fulfil all desirable requirements. It should be noted that these brushes have short handles, which are suitable to be close to the surface of the painting. During the construction of mimetic retouching, the correct selection of a brush type plays an essential role in successful simulation of the original paint layer, especially when retouching larger areas (Table 2). The sequence of the brushes, in terms of shape and size, should correspond in most cases to those supposedly used by the painter himself. For example, if the artist used wet-on-wet system while applying the paint, the brush used by the restorer needs to imitate the same surface characteristics as the painters brush. The most convenient fibres for this purpose should show firmness and flexibility in manipulation of the paint. Spring synthetic hair brush like Winsor & Newtons Monarch has the desirable features in copying this system of paint application. It provides a stiffer alternative to sable hair but is softer than hog bristle. Although reconstruction of the impasto technique starts immediately in the ground layer, it can be
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Figure 2. The desirable behaviour of the brush tip during selezione cromatica.

will maintain their performance for a longer period. However, in some cases the price and the brand are not as important as using a brush that will fulfil all conservators needs. So, the question is what are the criteria that a good brush has to satisfy? A conservator can judge the quality of a brush based on four main factors: paint pickup, steadiness of paint release, brush marks and filament retention. An excellent brush for selezione cromatica must hold the tip during use (Figure 2), allowing the conservator to create fine lines, and for pointillism, fine points. In the course of the paint application, the brush should return into its genuine shape because this will allow the conservator to have control of the relation between the brush and the surface. If the tip does not return into its original shape, the brush may produce small angular shapes rather than fine points and thus the flow control will be difficult to establish. The disposal of the colour should flow evenly and
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Table II. Brushes for imitative retouching.

Imitative Retouching Type of work Applying paint in large areas Details Colour capacity/heavy colour Flat One stroke Bright Angular Glazing Oval brush Hake Square wash Blending Figure work

Round Angular Script/liner Spotting brush

Filbert

Round Filbert

followed in paint application if, for instance, we are retouching with Fast - Hard 25 Si Paraloid B-72 gel. Visual exploration of the original brushstroke sometimes makes it possible to anticipate the size and the shape of the painters brush within the impasto. If the surface of the drift is rough and humpy, the most effective way to vividly reproduce it would be using the bristle hair brush of convenient size such as Winsor & Newtons Azanta Black. This affordable series offers good quality hog hair, with short handle for close up detailed work. As previously mentioned, natural fibres are more permanent when used in water based mediums, yet for certain tasks of mimetic retouching, the durability factor should not interfere with our selection of brushes. Layering of glazes in a solventbased medium should only include natural soft fibres, or at least a mixture of natural and synthetic fibres. For instance, when glazing with synthetic filaments it is necessary to press the fibres onto the surface in order to deposit sufficient amount of glaze. However, this pressure can endanger the glaze layer that was previously deposit. The most suitable tool for this purpose would be an extra smooth oval wash brush like Da Vinci Series 803 or square shaped Winsor & Newton's Sceptre Gold Wash. These brushes show absolute adherence on the surface and glide competence.
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The size of the brush should vary according to the size of the area that needs to be glazed. Accordingly, if the specific area is small the restorer will have to use very small brushes, which will probably last very briefly due to the solvent effect on the fibres. Hence, the brush will have to be frequently replaced. If, on the other hand, the retouching area is large, the restorer should use a bigger brush to spread the glaze evenly and obtain homogeneity of the surface. Due to the high capacity to absorb liquid, these brushes must be handled very carefully to prevent leaking of the glaze on the original paint layer. It is advisable to clean these brushes during the process of retouching in order to maintain their performance as long as possible. Besides imitating general painting techniques, there are also several special features that mimetic retouching involves with the objective to obtain maximum similarity between the original and the reconstructed area. Right selection of brushes in these cases is of utmost importance. For example, simulation of the deteriorated surface can be achieved using the flexible synthetic short hair brush for splashing tiny drops of paint. Likewise, pattering with almost dry bristle brush or fun brush can produce blur effects of the surface where needed, while spotting brush can be very
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Figure 3. Using fun brush to produce blur effects of the surface where needed.

Figure 4. Using spotting brush to imitate fine texture of the original brush stroke.

useful for the precise imitation of craquelure patterns, brushstrokes or other fine details (Figures 3 and 4).

mediums. Thus, in order to maintain the control over the brush and its performance, it is advisable to use synthetic bristles when retouching with water-based mediums. Kolinsky sable brushes, made of 100% pure male Russian kolinsky, are indeed the best ones if we are looking for brushes that retain water without alteration of the brush tip. Working with the right shape and size, these brushes have soft and firm hairs that leave no trace on the retouched surface, which makes them an adequate tool for distinctive retouching such as selezione chromatica or tratteggio. For imitative retouching it is more difficult to narrow the brush selection because in some cases it will depend on the original painters technique and his method of paint application. Nonetheless, it is advisable that the application of glazes in a solvent-based medium includes only natural soft fibres, or at least the mixture of natural and synthetic fibres. Less expensive alternatives such as synthetic filaments will last longer but their capacity to absorb and deposit paint can not compete with natural brushes.
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Conclusions The use of the brush in the conservation practice has transformed its original creative purpose to more objective tasks of retouching. The evaluation of brushes for retouching should take into account four objective factors: origin, texture, size and shape of the fibres. These factors will define the properties of the brush such as filament retention, shape maintenance, perfect tip, flow control, paint pickup and steadiness of paint release. The durability of the brush depends on the origin of the fibre and the selected retouching technique. For instance, natural fibres will show more sensibility in solvent-based mediums while synthetic fibres will endure most chemicals. However, observations of natural bristles in polar and non-polar solvents are very specific due to their behaviour. These fibres will considerably change the tuft shape when used in water-based
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The damages that retouching techniques cause to the natural and synthetic fibres are inevitable and irreversible and it is advisable to replace the brush when noticing a decrease of its performance. Adequate care and proper disposal can greatly enhance the durability of retouching brushes.

[5] R.D. Harle, Artists brushes: historical evidence from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, Conservation of paintings and the graphic arts: Contributions to the 1972 IIC Congress, Lisbon, 1972, pp. 123-129 [6] Antnio Joo Cruz, Os materiais usados em pintura em Portugal no incio do sculo XVIII, segundo Rafael Bluteau, Artis Revista do Instituto de Histria da Arte da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa 7-8, 2009, pp. 398 [7] X. Schawinsky, About the Physical in Painting, Leonardo 2(2), 1969, pp. 127-134, URL (accessed 17 January 2012) [8] J. Turner, Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans, Design Books, New York, 1992 [9] B.A. Buckley, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73(9), 1986, pp. 350371, URL (accessed 25 January 2012) [10] P. Ackroyd, L. Keith, D. Gordon, The restoration of Lorenzo Monacos Coronation of the Virgin: Retouching and Display, National Gallery Technical Bulletin 21, 2000, pp. 43-57, URL [PDF] [11] Icomos, Venice charter, URL (accessed 31 January 2012) [12] C. Branden and J. Tooze, Introduction to Protein Structure, 2nd edition, Routledge, New York, 1999 [13] J. E. McIntyre (ed.), Synthetic fibres: Nylon, polyester, acrylic, polyolefin, Volume 36, Woodhead Publishing and The Textile Institute, UK, 2004

Acknowledgments To Fundao para a Cincia e Tecnologia and the Croatian Conservation Institute. This work has been supported by Fundao para a Cincia e Tecnologia (FCT) and QREN - POPH, co-funded by the Portuguese Government and European Union by MCTES. This research was also partially supported by FCT scholarship SFRH/BD/69783/ 2010.

References [1] F. L. Griffith, The System of Writing in Ancient Egypt, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 30, 1900, pp. 153-159, URL (accessed 17 January 2012) [2] R. Barnhart, Calligraphy: The Inner World of the Brush, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 30(5), 1972, pp. 230-241, URL (accessed 17 January 2012) [3] C. King, National Gallery 3902 and the Theme of Luke the Evangelist as Artist and Physician, Zeitschrift fr Kunstgeschichte 48(2), 1985, pp. 249-255, URL (accessed 20 January 2012) [4] Cennino D' Andrea Cennini, The Craftsman's Handbook "Il Libro dell' Arte", Dover Publications, New York, 1933, pp. 40-42

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[14] M. D. Gottsegen, The Painter Handbook: Revised and expanded, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2006 [15] Winsor & Newton, Resource Centre, ColArt Fine Art & Graphics Ltd, England, 20032008, URL (accessed 13 December 2011) [16] C. Brandi, Il fondamento teorico del restauro, Bollettino dellIstituto Centrale del Restauro 1, Bulzoni, Roma, 1950, pp. 5-12 [17] Winsor & Newton, Water Colour & Gouache Brushes, ColArt Fine Art & Graphics, England, 20032008, URL (accessed 27 December 2011)

Her doctoral research is about the criteria and methodologies which might help to enhance the quality of painting retouching. Since 2004 she practices conservation and restoration in her own studio in Lisbon.

SANDRA USTI

Conservator-restorer
Contact: ssustic@h-r-z.hr www.replic-art.com Sandra usti has a diploma in conservationrestoration of easel paintings and polychrome wood. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Art History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia. Her doctoral research deals with the history of conservation-restoration practice in Croatia. She works as a conservator-restorer at the Croatian Conservation Institute on the Department of easel paintings and polychrome wooden objects. Her main interests are conservation and restoration of paintings, history of conservation practice, theoretical and practical doctrines of retouching paintings and historically accurate reconstructions of old master paintings. Her projects are presented through publications, lectures, exhibitions and presentations in Croatia and abroad.
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ANA BAILO Conservator-restorer

Contact: ana.bailao@gmail.com Ana Bailo has a diploma in Conservation and Restoration by the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (2005) and has a masters degree in Painting Conservation by the Portuguese Catholic University (2010). The master research was about methodologies and techniques of retouching. Now, she is currently a PhD student in Conservation of Paintings at the same university, in collaboration with the Centro de Investigao em Cincia e Tecnologia das Artes (CITAR) and the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de Espaa (IPCE).
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THE USE AND INFLUENCE OF VARNISH ON PAINTINGS

By Marc Maire

USE AND INFLUENCE OF VARNISH

Introduction The deliberate presence or absence of a varnish1 on a paintings surface must be in line with the painters artistic intention. It influences the visual perception of the painting. When a painter works on his painting according to traditional procedures, he manipulates a more or less viscous material composed of pigments dispersed in a medium that can be fluidized by a diluent to deposit it progressively on a support. He superimposes and juxtaposes shades that were at their brightest as long as they were wet. But as the paint dries and hardens (oxidises and polymerises) with the evaporation of its volatile constituents and a partial absorption of the binder by the lower layer(s), along with a contraction of the painted matter this vivacity lessens. The coloured particles are no longer evenly and entirely coated with the binder, and the diluent has evaporated, so the surface of the painting is no longer smooth and even. Thus, the hues lighten, opacify and some tend to become matte, as a large part of the incident light is now reflected by the surface in a more diffused way, creating a veil for our vision. Little of the incident light penetrates more deeply into the paint layer, the coloured contrast decreases in intensity and thus the representation of space appears to flatten. Varnishing paintings remedies these phenomena but has also other effects. Some of these are explained by observers in historical literature.

Historical Milestones According to written sources, varnish has existed since man started painting on detachable supports, with glue, distemper, tempera (all water based) or oil. However, it is difficult to situate the beginning of modern varnishing, a practice that produces a thin homogeneous coating on the painting. The word is said to derive from the medieval Latin veronice (sandarac), which has its roots in the Late Greek Beronik pronounced veronik, probably after Berenik (actual Berenice), city of the Cyrenaica region in Libya, where this resin came from. In reference to the painters Nicious and Apelle, Pliny the Elder reported the use of an atramento to bring out the natural beauty in these pieces [paintings and sculptures] and to protect them from dust or prevent the excess brightness of these colours not to injure the eyesight, as if the spectator had looked through a window and this same coating had subtly darkened the coloured effects that were too strong [1]. Charles Dalbon mentions a manuscript anterior to the 10th century [2]: in Lucide ad Lucidum, there is a description of the mixture of several gums or resins with linseed oil to make a varnish that insulates a distemper layer both from the next layer to be superimposed and also from the damaging effects of humidity. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, recipes finally began to become available in a more significant manner. In the 12th century, Theophile the Monk [3] mentioned the first known recipe for preparing a varnish: mixing one part of sandarac with two parts of oil and applying this warm on the painting. During the same period, the Mappae Clavicula [4] specifies the role of varnish (cicinum, castor oil) for distemper
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1 Varnish: non pigmented product made of a binder, solvents and

eventually diluents and additives enabling the application of a thin coating (on properly prepared substrates) creating a hard and adherent film that is generally smooth and translucent and more or less glossy, and also having protective properties and technical particularities (Dictionnaire technique des peintures et des travaux de peinturage, norme franaise N.F. T 30-001, Association franaise de normalisation, AFNOR, 1978).
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paintings as a protective layer against water damage. In 1437, Cennino Cennini [5] refers to a varnish to be spread the longest time possible after the painting has been made, which may also be sandarac based. Turquet de Mayerne [6], in a first attempt of methodical description, compiled in 1620 the varnish recipes used at his time. The most often used material was mastic resin, alternatively, colophony, Venice turpentine and amber (or Charab, Karab, succin) from Venice or Marseille. It should be noted that Mayerne showed concern about the reversibility of varnish in his lecture Discourse on varnishes [6]: To be good, varnishes must be strongly siccative, light and transparent, and the least coloured possible or if in time they darken, can be restored with the same simple oils that they are made of. A critical summary of all the transcriptions of 18th century recipes appeared in 1803 written by Tingry [7], professor of chemistry and mineralogical natural history, who also predicted what 19th century chemical research would be. In England, the first varnish factories appeared in 1790 and in 1820 in France. It was after the First World War that usable synthetic resins began to spread. In 1955, vinyl, ketone and acrylic based resins started to replace cellulosic products in both industry and art.

The protective role of varnish was most emphasized before the advent of oil paint, as distemper binders are quite sensitive to water in both gas and liquid states. The Van Eyck brothers were already using oil to varnish their paintings, with the inconvenience of a tiresome hand application and a very long drying time. The particular conditioning methods they developed by experimentation and by using additives to obtain a faster drying varnish and not one which just consists of oil itself were definitely the true fruits of their work. Their drying varnish was applied to oil paint, Jan Van Eycks admirable pictorial technique. This breakthrough was triggered by concurring events as can easily be imagined. In fact, the artists father was a master glassmaker at a time when stained glass windows were flooding cathedrals' interiors with iridescent colours, offering translucent images and thus competing with the duller, more opaque distemper and tempera works. It is the aesthetic function of varnish that prevails in the case of oil painting, as it is less sensitive to humidity. It unifies the picture by levelling out the micro surface giving it an intangible character. It insinuates a separation place between the pigment colour and the eye, which prompts the viewers gaze to leave reality and to penetrate the world of metaphor, naturalism, exoticism, poetry, memories, dreams, fantasy, imagination in short. Only some of the light that hits the varnish is reflected. The rest of it is refracted. In doing so, it penetrates through the varnish layer and reaches the paint surface which may be somewhat irregular. Upon contact, the refracted light passes into this second layer and causes a phenomenon called diffuse reflection. The light rays diffused by reflection are directed back towards the varnish surface, where they reflect and are directed once
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Functions and Effects of Varnish Whatever the period might be, observations on the use of varnish show evidence of a dual necessity: to protect the painting and to improve its look.

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again towards the inside of the varnish layer, or refracted out into the air. This chain phenomenon goes, completely transforming the initial flux. A varnishs first effect is darkening the paintings pictorial layer as it lowers the percentage of transmitted light. In addition, as the percentage of reflected light is higher, the colour also looks richer and deeper. Varnishing also brings about an increase in colour contrast resulting from a phenomenon of reflection inside a translucent film. When a light ray first makes contact with the paint layer, the paint absorbs a part of the light spectrum and reflects the coloured part back, producing a sensation of colour. This coloured part is made up of a wide wavelength, and if it hits the coloured layer again and again after repeated reflections at the varnish-air interface, the wavelength selection gets narrower and narrower. This produces a colour sensation that intensifies as more light reflects inside the varnish.

painted material, once again and durably, as all the volatile substances have evaporated. Light can then penetrate the coloured strata and re-establish the initial saturation and depth created under the artists brush. Varnishing sessions first appeared at the beginning of the 19th century in France and England, when the Academies requested that paintings shown at Salons be varnished. In Paris, the day before the opening, participants were allowed to varnish the paintings they had left about six weeks earlier, when they were too wet to be varnished. They were also allowed to have the job done by a specialist [8]. On the day before the Salons public opening, State officials, escorted by salon goers and the privileged, inaugurated the Triennial Salon where the oldest works were shown. This day was called the vernissage (French for opening night, literally varnishing) [9]. Soon, few painters bothered coming by to supervise the varnishing and hanging of their works. This nonchalant attitude led to quick and dirty varnishing jobs done by non specialists [10]. Today, the custom of vernissage still represents a social ritual of artistic revelation reserved to selected guests. However, since opening night no longer involves varnishing, it is no longer the same aesthetic experience that it used to be when onlookers actually watched varnishing happening and saw the painting spring up through its own material.

Varnishing as a Regular Practice It is also important to consider the fact that varnishing was an important stage in old painting techniques. It was the moment of public revelation of a work elaborated many months earlier by the artist. With its new coat of varnish, the painting suddenly appeared as colourful as it had been while the artist was painting it. It is generally accepted that a painting should be varnished a year after its completion2. The application of a liquid varnish has the effect of re-wetting the

Refutation of Varnishing The invention of photography and new priorities of modern painters upset radically the practice of varnishing. The impressionists no longer simply painted a naturalist vision as the old masters had done. Their objective was to fix on canvas sensitive impressions of the moment to seize their
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2 Great masters rarely varnish their pictures after they are

finished; they protect their tints by a coating of white of egg and do not varnish them until a year after [2].
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fleetingness. There was no longer time for superimposed layers, as the light changed too quickly. The resultant liberation of colour and will to experience it immediately motivated the painters to deliberately abandon varnish. They revealed the paint in its nudity. Pictorial techniques then became freer and more spontaneous. Some even banished mixtures from the palette. Painters juxtaposed small pure-coloured brushstrokes to increase colour luminosity and intensity, according to the additive synthesis process established by Chevreul [11]. The matte aspect of the dry oil colour could be purposely sought after for pastellike effects, in order to create lighter and more luminous images. Starting in the 1880s, and maybe also as a sign of protest to academic painters [12], many impressionists left their works unvarnished3 following the example of precursors such as Goya who is to be considered a modern artist far ahead of his time and Constable [13], well-known for his large landscapes. Past and present gallery owners, frame makers, antique dealers and conservators did not and still too often do not act accordingly. They prefer to "pretty-up" works in a conventional but abusive manner to increase their value in their amateur customers eyes. Recently, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is on the way to remove the varnishes on the Van Goghs, not without some difficulty due to the pastosity of his painting

technique and at times the presence of egg white varnishes and other varnish materials, which had become insoluble.

Conclusion The presence or absence of varnish on the paintings surface is highly significant. It conditions our perception of the painting considerably. Pictures also are often poorly presented at exhibitions because of standardized conditions: hanging systems, lighting and transparent security panels. This often diminishes their individual essence, and it can eventually lead the visitor to only wish to recognize the aspect of their shiny paper reproductions. Conservator-restorers must be able to evaluate the pertinence of varnish with expert critical analysis, and it is their duty to explain the reasons for their professional opinion. Whether the varnish is absent or inadequate, whether it has yellowed or opacified, and even if it does not disturb the image visibility, the conservator-restorer is supposed to be the specialist with the most responsibility concerning any such modifications. He acts on behalf the artist by intervening directly on the paintings material reality in order to perpetuate the artists intention.

References [1] Pliny, the Elder, Historia Naturalis, Vol. 1. XXXV, p. 97 [2] L.A. Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae medii aevi, vol. II, 1741, p. 386 [3] Theophile Presbyter, Diversarum artium

3 On the reverse side of a Paysage Chapronval (Louvre

Museum collection), there is an inscription in Pissaro's handwriting : "Veuillez ne pas vernir" (Please, do not varnish). Also, in a letter to Octave Maus in January 1887, Seurat wrote: "It is appropriate that I tell you my horror of varnish. Often some paint shop proprietor will apply varnish without being told to, thinking hes doing the right thing and sending in his little bill".

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schedula, I book, translated and printed by Count Ch. de L'Escalopier, Paris, 1843 [4] "Mappae Clavicula", in Archaeologia, or Miscellanous tracts relating to antiquity, Society of Antiquaries of London, London, Vol. XLII, 17701857 [5] C. Cennini, Il libro dell arte, Bibl. Laurent. ms. medicean 23, commented and annotated for the first time by Knight Tambroni, translated by Victor Mottez, Paris-Lille, 1858 [6] T. De Mayerne, Pictoria Sculptoria & quae subalternarum artium 1620, British Museum Sloane n 2052, prsented by M. Faidutti and C. Versini, Audin, Lion, n.d. [7] P. F. Tingry, Trait thorique et pratique de faire et d'appliquer les vernis, G. J. Manget, Genve, 1803 [8] "Un jour daccrochage et de vernissage, Minutes de lAcadmie des Beaux Arts de 1803", Procs verbaux de lAcadmie des beaux Arts, 2 Vol., Marcel Bonnaire, Paris, 1940 [9] J. Adeline, Lexique des termes dArt, Maison Quantin, Paris, 1884, p. 411 [10] J. G. Goulinat, La Technique des peintres, Payot, Paris, 1926, p. 54 [11] M. E. Chevreul, Leons de chimie applique la teinture, Pichon et Didier, Paris, 1830 [12] M. Swicklik, French Painting and the Use of Varnish, 17501900, Conservation Research Studies in the history of art 41, Trustees of the National Gallery of Washington, 1995, p. 166

[13] P. Waldeis, Impressionnistes 6 chefsdoeuvre franais du Stdel Francfort, Exhibition catalogue of the Muse dOrsay, Paris 16.0230.05.1999, 1999, p. 103

MARC MAIRE Conservator-restorer

Contact: m.maire.esaa@gmail.com Marc Maire is a conservator-restorer of paintings and painted objects. He graduated in 1986 from the cole Suprieure d'Art d'Avignon (Higher School of Art in Avignon) in France. After graduation, he participated in international projects such as the French Mission for the Protection of Islamic Cairo, Egypt in 1992 and 1993. Afterwards, he started a career in the private sector establishing in Avignon the company Amoroso & Waldeis with a partner in 1994. Since 1995, he has also been a permanent lecturer in the course of conservation-restoration at the same school where he is primarily interested in personal and collective research (theoretical, methodological, interdisciplinary), as well as coordinating the research projects conducted by graduate students, while ensuring fundamental teachings of the discipline in the first cycle. Since 2007, he has been Visiting lecturer at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China.

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preventive conservatio

PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION OF THE BARK CLOTH COLLECTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND ANTHROPOLOGY MUSEUM

By Kate Stanway

PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION OF BARK CLOTH

Bark cloth is a cloth made from the beaten bark of a selection of tree species found in the Pacific and other areas of the world. The collection of bark cloths held by The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum is largely Pacific in origin. This collection has been stored by a variety of methods which had resulted in the formation of creases and folds. The condition and storage methods of these bark cloths made them difficult to handle. This was highlighted when the entire Anthropology Museum collection was temporarily relocated during building refurbishment. The humidification and re-housing of the bark cloth collection presented some important challenges. It involved redesigning the storage system used by the Museum, humidification of the bark cloth collection and the introduction of suspended rolled storage. This project also demonstrated that large bark cloths can be treated in a relatively small space in a short period of time by selective crease reduction using localised humidity tents.

Introduction The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum (UQAM), based at St Lucia, holds the largest collection of ethnographic material and visual culture of any Australian university museum. This collection includes approximately 19,000 artefacts and 5000 photographs and is continually expanding, with new acquisitions and donations received regularly. UQAM was established in 1948 with the donation of the personal collection of prominent anthropologist Dr Lindsay Winterbotham (1887-1960). Today, UQAM holds an extensive collection of 102 Pacific bark cloths which have been displayed in high profile exhibitions in Queensland. Ranging in size from 30 x 15 cm to 194 x 384 cm, the cloths are made from a range of bark types and decorated with an array of dyes and pigments. The age and style of cloths varies significantly. All cloths are stored in the UQAM storeroom on level 1 of the Michie building at The University of Queensland St Lucia campus.

and South East Asia. In these areas, the cloth performs a number of important functions both utilitarian and ceremonial including as items of clothing, blankets, room dividers or as donations at weddings and funerals [1, pp. 28]. The general manufacturing process involves the bark of certain trees being removed and the inner fibres separated from the outer fibres. The inner fibres are then placed on a beating board and pounded with a beater or mallet. Starting with heavy beaters and progressing to lighter ones, the fibres are gradually felted. Residual sap released from the fibres during the beating process is used as a natural adhesive [1, pp. 28-31; 4, pp. 13-16; 5]. Regional variations in this basic methodology result in the distinctive bark cloth of each region. Common sources of bark fibres in the Pacific are Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), Breadfruit (Artocarpus) and Fig (Ficus) [1, pp. 28-31; 2; 4, pp. 9; 5, pp. 1]. Bark cloths remain integral to many important events throughout the Pacific. While some of the materials used in the production of bark cloths have changed over time, the basic techniques have remained largely unchanged. The commonly used Tahitian name 'Tapa' refers to painted bark cloths. Each cultural group in the Pacific has a name for their local variety [7].
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Bark Cloth: an overview This type of cloth is manufactured under different names in the Pacific, parts of Africa, Latin America
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KATE STANWAY

Figure 1. Bark cloth 2273 before treatment showing the folding caused by previous storage methods. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

Rationale The Michie Building, which houses the bark cloth collection, was scheduled to be refurbished in 2011. The usual storage area of the building could not simultaneously hold the collection and undergo refurbishment. The size and fragility of the collection dictated it be relocated from the first floor to a temporary storage space on the second floor. This would allow construction access to reconfigure the first floor, creating new office, storage and gallery spaces. A collection-wide process of boxing and stillaging was implemented in late 2010 in preparation for the collection move. One activity undertaken as part of the collection move was the treatment and re-housing of the entire bark cloth collection. This intervention required a conservation assessment of the bark cloth collection, the first to be made. There were two main reasons for undertaking the project. The most pressing was the preparation
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of the entire UQAM collection for short-term off-site storage while building refurbishment was undertaken. This highlighted the need to improve ease of handling, reduce storage space, and assess individual stability. The second reason was that previous storage methods were an inefficient use of space which had resulted in significant creasing and distortion of the bark cloths (Figures 1 and 2). Accessing individual bark cloths was difficult and often resulted in abrasion of surrounding cloths.

Previous Storage Prior to this project, the large bark cloths held by UQAM were stored either attached to metal or plastic garment hangers by wooden cloths pegs; or folded and suspended over unbuffered lengths of dowel or plastic conduit (Figure 3). Due to the size and shape of the bark cloths, these storage methods were an inefficient use of space and made accessing and handling difficult. Both
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PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION OF BARK CLOTH

Figure 2. Bark cloth 8452 before treatment with an example of planar distortion. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

methods had resulted in the formation of creases. Stretching had also occurred along folds where the objects were insufficiently supported (all weight being supported by a single area). Conservation Objective To address storage issues, the bark cloth collection was removed from the above conditions and rehoused using standard conservation methods to improve long-term stability. The new storage system includes two types of storage: rolled storage for stable bark cloths, which are then suspended on a custom rolled storage frame; and flat boxed storage for those with limited flexibility and those with friable or cracking surface pigment. Added benefits of these new systems are the increased space efficiency and improved ease of accessing individual bark cloths. To determine the final space requirements and the type of storage required, each bark cloth's
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condition was assessed. This also determined the amount of humidification that was required for each bark cloth. Those with heavy creasing, edge scrunching or other planar distortions were treated by ultrasonic humidification in a humidity tent. This allowed the bark cloths to return to their near original shape. Creases acquired through use were left unaltered where possible. Photographs were taken of the bark cloth before treatment to record condition and as a reference for crease reduction measurement. After treatment each bark cloth was professionally photographed. Stable bark cloths were then rolled for long term storage, while others were boxed. Limitations The size of the 69 bark cloths selected for humidification and limitations of the physical working space necessitated a compromise. After discussion with the Director and Collection Administrator, it was decided to treat only those areas that would affect the long term stability and rolling
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KATE STANWAY

Figure 3. Part of the bark cloth collection folded on dowels prior to treatment. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. Figure 4. An example of the basic humidity tent used in this project. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

of the bark cloth. This had a number of beneficial outcomes: - The ability to provide localised treatment allowing several discrete creases to be treated while avoiding creases of historical significance; - This did not require the entire object to be treated at once which allowed the use of smaller tables and less space; - Reduced the volume of collection material exposed to moisture thus reducing the risk of mould and the risk of pigment disturbance; - Allowed one individual to treat the majority of the bark cloths unassisted.
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Treatment Outline The treatment of all bark cloths included the following steps: 1) Initial condition assessment to identify the conservation requirements (for example, requirement for rolled or flat storage); 2) Initial documentation, including a photograph of the bark cloths and their condition prior to treatment; 3) Localised humidification treatment if required; 4) Professional studio photograph of the treated bark cloths (with images used to make new storage labels); 5) Rolling or boxing for permanent storage. Humidification Ultrasonic humidification was used to relax the bark fibres, allowing the reduction of creasing. This was achieved using a localised humidity tent and gentle pressure. Each treatment proceeded as follows. In-situ solubility test of all dyes and pigments were undertaken. Then a small Mylar tent was set up over the affected area. The Mylar was placed over an internal support to the appropriate height. Ultrasonic humidification was then introduced into the tent to increase the local humidity level. Ultrasonic humidification was provided by a PEL Ultrasonic Humidifier Model 805-7005. To prevent condensation from dripping back onto the bark cloth the horizontal surfaces were placed on an angle to allow run-off to be collected away from the object (Figure 4). The tent's inner surfaces were wiped with blotter when the bark cloth was manipulated. Once the fibres became flexible, the creases were gently unfolded. Heavy creases or those with multiple folds were treated in stages - each crease relaxed and unfolded before the next was manipulated. After unfolding a crease a light weight
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was applied to the treated area and left in position until the bark cloth had dried. Small sheets of perspex of varying thickness were used to weight creases. Small weights isolated in Mylar were also used while blotter separated the bark cloth from the weights. In a standard humidification project the objects are kept in a humidification tent at a stable RH of 6570 % for 24-48 hours. Reasons for not following standard conservation procedures included: - Limited space and time which prevented the use of a sealed chamber to reach and maintain the desired humidity level. The treatment was undertaken in a work alcove within the collection store. - The vulnerability of the rest of the collection to mould required sparing use of moisture. - Some dyes in the bark cloths exhibited strong moisture sensitivity. - The desired outcome was not to create flat display pieces. Many of the bark cloths had large undulations and or stretching and would not easily have become 'flat' (some creases were acquired through use and therefore part of the bark cloth's history). The aim was to reduce heavy creases to allow safe, stable storage. The set up of the humidification tent used in this project was similar to that outlined by Murray and Johnson [3] for treating what they referred to as stubborn creases which did not respond to standard humidification treatments. In their case, they held the end of a humidifier hose directly over the difficult creases [3, p. 114]. During the treatment outlined in this paper, the end of the ultrasonic humidifier hose was positioned in the tent close to the crease/fold being treated. The hose was held in place for several minutes until the bark cloth softened and could be gradually manipulated into shape before weights were applied.
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Figure 5. Bark cloth 25426 folded over a garment hanger before treatment. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

This method was only used to remove creases that would hinder rolling for long term storage or that would prevent effective flat storage. Fibre stretching and separation were not addressed in this project. Using this method, 69 bark cloths were treated part-time over a 3 month period (Figures 5-8). An additional 17 were not humidified due to wood display rails, highly soluble pigments/dyes or surface beading consisting of plant seed and coloured trade cloths. Several additional bark cloths that returned from loan after that period were condition assessed and stored as appropriate. These bark cloths did not require humidification. A sub-collection of smaller framed bark cloths were not humidified at this time. Treatment Considerations Registration details showed that certain creases or folds formed part of the traditional use and or storage of particular bark cloths. In these cases, total humidification was inappropriate as it posed the risk of removing these important references to the objects origins and history [6]. Others had wooden display rods attached to upper and lower
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edges by iron nails. The display rods had been attached by a particular collector who had displayed the objects using the rods. Several items from this group with stable iron nails were kept with the display rods attached as an integral component of the object's history and significance. Full humidification of these bark cloths could not be undertaken due to the risk of initiating active corrosion of the iron nails. Corroded nails were removed from the wood rails where required. Minor corrosion staining was present on the bark cloth. Storage Rolling flat flexible objects such as bark cloth and textiles is a well documented preventive conservation method. It is also one of the best ways of storage since correct rolling prevents the formation of folds and creases. As bark cloth fibres age they lose moisture and flexibility and if folded, the fibres support a greater point load than when they are flat or rolled. If left folded, with time the fibres at the point of the fold break creating tears and hindering safe handling of the object.
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PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION OF BARK CLOTH

Figure 6. Studio photograph of bark cloth 25426 after treatment. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

Figure 7. Bark cloth 40274 folded over a garment hanger before treatment. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

Figure 8. Studio photograph of bark cloth 40274 after treatment. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
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To roll the bark cloths, the cloth was first placed face down on a clean flat surface. A layer of Tyvek was then placed over the bark cloth. The Tyvek dimensions were 20 cm wider than the object and at least 50 cm longer than the object in order to allow the roller to be wrapped in a layer of Tyvek before the bark cloth was rolled. This also allowed for a layer of Tyvek to encase the rolled bark cloth acting as a dust cover. The additional length also allowed the Tyvek to conform to any distortions in the roll caused by planar distortions in the bark cloth. Then, cotton tape straps were tied around the roll to secure the bark cloth in place. A label with registration number and photograph were attached to each roll to allow the bark cloth to be identified without the need to unroll. Each roll was then suspended in a purpose built rolled storage rack with a supporting dowel inserted through the centre of the roller (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Rolled bark cloths installed in the new custom storage. Reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

During this project, 15 inch hollow polyethylene foam tubes were used to support the bark cloth and to provide a core for the roll. A Tyvek interleaving layer was used in the roll and for protection as a dust cover on the outside of the roll. The completed roll was secured with cotton tape ties. These rolls are now suspended in custom shelving units. The benefits of this method over the original storage system lie in its tendency to: reduce stress on the fibres by providing greater weight distribution; protect the object from dust; to provide limited protection from water ingress; reduce potential for stretching and creases; to remove the need to fold larger objects, improving long term stability; to increase the space efficiency of storage for large objects, as opposed to flat storage; and to increase ease of handling and transportation over flat or folded storage.
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Bark cloths with limited flexibility and those with friable or cracking surface pigment were placed in flat storage. These items were boxed in archival storage boxes. A combination of polyethylene textile boxes and custom blue board boxes where used to store the flat bark cloths depending on their size. Boxes were lined with acid free tissue. Conclusion The preventive conservation project discussed in this paper has improved the accessibility of individual bark cloths and their condition. Now that a full condition survey of all bark cloths has been undertaken, any future deterioration can be easily identified. This provides opportunities to identify environmental sources of deterioration and arrest further deterioration. Future loans have been streamlined as the entire bark cloth collection is now in displayable and transportable condition. The Museum expects to display these bark cloths in its new gallery in the future.
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Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dr Diana Young (UQAM Director) for facilitating the project and Jane Willcock (UQAM Museum Collection Administrator) for logistical support and materials organisation. Thanks also to the volunteers for providing extra hands when required during the rolling stage and to Erin Chapman for completing the last few bark cloths when the author was unavailable. All images reproduced by courtesy of the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.

[7] J. G. Winter (ed.), Talking Tapa: Pasifica Bark Cloth in Queensland, Curated by Joan G. Winter, Exhibition Catalogue, Keeaira Press, 2009

References [1] G. Barton and S. Weik, "The Conservation of Tapa", The Conservator 18, 1994, pp. 28-40 [2] S. Kooijman, Tapa in Polynesia, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, 1972 [3] C. Murray and E. Johnson, 'The conservation and storage of barkcloths at the Manchester Museum', in M.M. Wright (ed.), Barkcloth: Aspects of Preparation, Use, Deterioration, Conservation and Display, Archetype Publications, London, 2001, pp. 112-117 [4] R. Neich and M. Pendergrast, Pacific Tapa, David Bateman Ltd, Auckland, 1997 [5] K. Nix and W. Sedlmaier, What is Tapa? A book prepared for the Exhibition "What is Tapa?" held at the ACT Craft Centre, June 16-25, 1981, Crafts Council of the ACT Inc., 1981 [6] R. E. Norton, "Reshaping", in M.E. Florian, D.P. Kronkright and R.E. Norton, The Conservation of Artifacts Made from Plant Materials, Getty Conservation Institute, 1990 (4th printing 2002), pp. 229-233
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KATE STANWAY
Conservator E-mail: kate@stanway.com.au

Kate Stanway is an object conservator and the principal of Kate Stanway Conservation Pty Ltd. Kate has been engaged extensively by the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. Kate holds an Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology from the University of Queensland and a Master of Arts in Cultural Materials Conservation from the University of Melbourne. Kate was formerly engaged as an objects conservator at the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne.

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PREVENTIVE CONSERVATION
A Key Method to Ensure Cultural Heritage Authenticity and Integrity in the Preservation Process

By Heidi Wirilander

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This article studies the role of preventive conservation in cultural heritage preservation. It shows through cultural heritage theory and conservation professions development process how important part preventive conservation has had and still has in cultural heritage preservation and damage prevention. Preventive conservation is a multidisciplinary orientation that uses indirect measures and actions to avoid or to minimize future deterioration or loss of cultural heritage. Conservation professionals should recognize its importance as the most effective method in promoting the long-term preservation of cultural heritage. Therefore, preventive conservation should be the basic theoretical perspective in all cultural heritage preservation. It can and ought to be used in the entire field of cultural heritage and maintenance work because it considers all the circumstances that may cause deterioration of cultural heritage. Additionally, it is the key method of ensuring that cultural heritage is preserved as authentically as possible through cultural heritage management and care.

Introduction Cultural heritage represents societys collective memory and its self-image [1]. Societys heritage also possesses a universal perspective. This is a matter that concerns all mankind because all the nations cultural heritage can be seen as part of the world's cultural heritage [2]. Preservation of cultural heritage has been seen as a moral responsibility in societies because it maintains and strengthens a nations identity and understanding of its past. In general, preservation and conservation of cultural heritage aims to safeguard the existence of cultural heritage of all mankind [3]. The preserved cultural heritage from different centuries indicates that societies have valued aspects of both their past and contemporary cultures: all the cultural phenomena are first contemporary culture and if they are valued and preserved they may become past culture representatives. Societies have also actively ensured the transmission of its valued cultural features to the future generations: institutions such as museums, libraries and archives were established to preserve their heritage [4]. Cultural heritage is used in societies to construct and reconstruct identities and multiple cultural and social values [5].
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The concept of cultural heritage is always a result of definition and evaluation based processes [6]. International cultural heritage conventions and legislation (Table I) play a significant role in establishing the frameworks through which social cultural elements and features are evaluated at national level. This criterion is used by organized societies cultural heritage professionals and institutions in determining the valued elements in the nation culture and past [7]. International conventions and legislation have a significant part in the cultural heritage process [8]. Table I presents international conventions that have influenced the norms through which the concept of cultural heritage is evaluated. There are two main criteria in the evaluation process, authenticity and integrity of cultural heritage, which arise from UNESCOs World Heritage Convention (WHC) that started the List of World Heritage Sites [1]. Integrity comes from the operational guidelines of WHC from 1977. Integrity is used in measuring the wholeness and intactness of natural or cultural heritage sites [9] and it has been defined as the objects continuing significance over time [10]. The concept of authenticity is a creation of cultural identity that consists of comprehensive cultures and communities
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Table I. Cultural heritage conventions that have influenced the norms trough which cultural heritage is evaluated.

Convention
European Cultural Convention Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict Charter of Venice World Heritage Convention Nara Document on Authenticity in Relation to the World Heritage Convention Second Protocol for the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society

Institution
European Council UNESCO ICOMOS UNESCO UNESCO UNESCO UNESCO European Council

Year
1954 1954 1964 1972 1994 1999 2005 2005

in societies [1]. Authenticity is often defined as being genuinely and exactly what is claimed to be [11]. The World Heritage Convention gives parameters through which the authenticity of cultural heritage can be evaluated using the "test of authenticity. This test is used in WHC to justify nominations to the World Heritage List. There was a need to study the meaning and applicability of authenticity dimensions in WHC context and, therefore, UNESCOs World Heritage Committees eighteenth session published The Nara Document on Authenticity in Relation to the World Heritage Convention in 1994, which was drafted at the conference with the same name in Japan in November 1993. The purpose of the Nara document was to clarify the dimensions of authenticity in different cultures in WHC relation [12]. The test of authenticity creates a picture of genuine cultural heritage in the World Heritage Convention. In this test, the first criterion is that the work of human creativity is genuine and it stands on its own merits. The second criterion is that the authentic work refers to testimony or is a representative sample of true cultural tradition. The third criterion is that the authenticity refers
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to the interchange of values or ideas and that the interchange of values has originally taken place in the cultural heritage site in question [12]. According to the Nara Document, authenticity is defined as an essential element in defining, assessing and monitoring cultural heritage. The document asserts that an objects authenticity originates from a specific cultural context that should be evaluated to confirm its existence [13]. The Nara Document on Authenticity also declares that the diversity of cultures and heritage are irreplaceable sources of intellectual richness of humankind and, therefore, should be protected. The document states that diversity in cultural heritage exists in modern societies and its survival demands respect for other cultures and all aspects of their belief systems. Authenticity is linked to a large variety of information sources on cultural heritage. Relevant information on authenticity enables evaluation of the form, design, materials, use, function, traditions, techniques, location, setting, spirit, feeling, as well as internal and external factors of cultural heritage. These factors define the originality level of cultural heritage [13].
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Even though international conventions and legal instruments create the frame through which cultural heritage is defined and evaluated globally, the applications that select the cultural elements of societies for the cultural heritage process are managed at national level. The cultural heritage process at the national level represents the nations vision of its significant history and cultural elements. This process of definition results in that cultural heritage has a significant role in the construction of national identities and commonly appreciated cultural customs [7]. Cultural heritage has sometimes been seen as a way society has to preserve its cultural values. The ability of an individual people to understand these values depends on the amount and the quality of information that is produced in the cultural heritage process [13]. Additionally, the concept of authenticity has sometimes become an indicator of shifting tastes that change through generations and times [1]. The credibility and truthfulness of the values connected to cultural heritage can be revealed by evaluating societys history [13]. The concept of authenticity can also give rise to phenomena that influence negatively the process of cultural heritage. Cultural identities are sometimes presented through aggressive nationalism, which strives to eliminate minority cultures in societies [13]. When true authenticity is at risk, the credibility of cultural heritage is lost [11]. Therefore, the meaning of authenticity in the preservation of cultural heritage is to illuminate the collective and diverse nature of the memory and history of society [13]. The concept of cultural heritage began to broaden after the World Heritage Convention (1972). Cultural heritage began to include both human and natural environment as well as architectural
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and archaeological sites. Cultural heritage could exist in countryside landscapes and in urban and industrial sites [8]. New museology tendencies have defined cultural heritage as a representation of contemporary society values. It produces information that creates a vision of cultural elements chosen to be part of cultural heritage and others that have been left out [14]. According to Tomislav ola, cultural heritage is always an expression of society tradition and values. olas general theory on heritology affords the understanding on the background and meaning of cultural heritage and the objectives of heritage professionals. This results in that the concept of cultural heritage is influenced by memory institutions, their visions and missions, as well as their position in society [15]. UNESCO released the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001. This document recognized the multiform nature of culture in time and space. According to it, versatile nature of culture can be reached through unique and plural groups identities, which make up human societies. Cultural diversity was declared to be as important to humankind as biodiversity because it is a source of cultural exchange, innovation and creativity [8]. Therefore, cultural heritage process should be as open and democratic as possible, engaging different groups and entire societies in the cultural heritage definition process.

The Tradition of Preservation Conservation means to keep and to preserve [16]. Conservation of cultural heritage has, in all its forms and history, pursued the preservation of values that are attached to the features of heritage [13]. The aim of preventive conservation at minimizing deterioration and loss of cultural heritage has a long history and tradition in societies. This is
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evident in the long standing practice of cultural heritage protection such as buildings, sculptures, aesthetic objects and work of art from fire, floods, rainwater, earthquakes, insects, mould and high humidity [17]. The tradition of preservation is much older than the modern conservation history. The De Architectura (On Architecture, published as Ten Books on Architecture) by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, written around 15 BC, recorded the expertise about roman materials, techniques and construction processes. The work of Vitruvius was followed in the 15th century Italian Renaissance by Leon Battista Alberti in his De Re Aedificatoria (1452, On the Art of Building) [18]. Simon Lambert introduces the idea that there are written documents from around the seventeenth century that discuss the idea of protecting cultural heritage from damage and further destruction [17]. One of these instances was the conservation projects of the frescoes by Raphael in Rome in 1659 and 1702, which were documented thoroughly. Prevention methods were used in these intervention projects to avoid damages to the frescos during the conservation works [17]. According to Lambert, conservation professionals in the late 18th and early 19th centuries also understood the possibility that certain treatments themselves could cause harm to cultural heritage. As an example of this, Lambert [17] brings up Pietro Edwards writings from 1777 [19] and 1798 [20]. Pietro Edwards was the director of Restoration of The Public Pictures of Venice and Rialto and managed the painting restorers and inspectors. Edwards was against highly invasive interventions and ensured that the preventive care methods were applied to entire collections during restoration works [17]. Simon Lambert states that one of the earliest written documents on preventive conservation applications were introduced in Casper F. Neickels Museographia, a guide to museums, galleries and
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libraries in Europe published in 1727. In his guide, Neickel provides instructions on how to avoid moisture problems, how insect pests should constantly be monitored for, and how damages to the exhibits can be avoided through careful planning. Additionally, Neickel listed 25 rules1 for collection care that resemble modern methods [17]. Protection of cultural heritage has often meant planned activities that included regular monitoring and maintenance of objects. In 16th century England, care of cultural heritage was introduced through the idea of housekeeping. Housekeeping guidelines were given to maintenance and management personnel and included practical advice and recommendations about dust, humidity, heat, light, insect control and even damage that could be caused by abrasion [17].

Modern Conservation According to Jukka Jokilehto, the theoretical foundations for modern conservation gave John Ruskin and the anti-restoration movement in mid and late 19th century. The anti-restoration movement criticized restoration architects for destroying the authenticity of historic buildings and fought for the protection, conservation and maintenance of the authentic values in buildings. Although Ruskin did not write a theory for conservation practise, he identified the values and significance of historic authenticity in buildings and objects. Ruskins guiding principles in identification were: sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, memory and obedience [21].

1 Neickels guide included for example guidance in object

handling and theft prevention. 2 The International Museum Office was a body of the Leagues of Nations that existed before UN [4, p. 2].
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Progress in scientific research in the beginning of the 20th century also provided new means that could be applied to cultural heritage preservation [17]. It may be considered that modern conservation started in 1930, when the International Museum Office2 organized the first International Conference for the Study of Scientific Methods for the Examination and Conservation of Works of Art. Once the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) were established, the International Museum Office was integrated with the International Counsel of Museums (ICOM) in 1946. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) was founded by UNESCO in 1965 [22]. The first international measure for conservation practice was given in 1931 in the Athens Charter. This charter later inspired the second measure setting document, the Venice charter in 1961 [23]. The conservation profession began to develop in Europe and in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s [24]. The incentive behind this development was the rising concern over lack of control over treatments carried out by poorly trained conservation technicians and artisans [24]. The history of organized conservation training begun in 1956 when UNESCO established the Rome Centre which started working three years after the initial proposal in 1959. The Rome Centre has been known as ICCROM since 1977 [25]. Since the early 1980s many countries have established their conservation training at higher education institutions, mostly at universities [22]. The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) American Group presented its first set of guidelines and standards in the field of conservation in 1963 in a document known as the Murray Pease Report. A code of professional ethics was later added to this
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document and it was published as The Code of Ethics and Practice in 1979 [24]. Standards in conservation are based on past experiences and current knowledge. The objective was to improve the preservation of cultural heritage and maintain its usability [24]. According to Rebeca Alcntara, the use of standards was introduced in the field of conservation trough recommendations for preservation of collections in the late 1940s. These standards gave recommendations for suitable levels of relative humidity, temperature and light. During the 1960s, these early recommendations began to use by the word stand in relation to preventive conservation measures. The earliest standards concerning preventive conservation were Robert Fullers Standards of Exposure to Light (1963) and Nathan Stolows Standards for the Care of Works of Art in Transit (1981) [24]. In the 1970s, the theoretical concepts of conservation started to evolve into appreciation of minimal intervention in the care of cultural heritage objects, which influenced the fast development of preventive conservation theory. This development and the re-evaluation of the reversibility question resulted in minimalist tendencies becoming dominant in conservation [25]. This progress made preventive conservation methods more precise and extensive [26].

Theory of Preventive Conservation and Risk Management The intention of conservation is to safeguard the authenticity and the integrity of cultural heritage [27]. It uses all measures and actions to ensure the accessibility of cultural heritage in the present and future times. Conservation prevents or retards the deterioration of cultural heritage by controlling
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the environment and items structure to maintain the items as unchanged as possible [28]. According to the latest definitions, conservation includes preventive conservation, remedial conservation and restoration. All measures and actions in conservation respect the significance and the physical properties of cultural heritage item [29]. Preventive conservation actions are taken in the context or surroundings of cultural heritage object or group of objects. The measures and actions are indirect and should not interfere with the objects structure and materials. Preventive conservation methods do not modify the appearance of object. Remedial conservation actions are all those directly carried out on an item or group of items. According to ICOM-CC, remedial actions should be carried out when the objects are so fragile and deteriorated so severely that they could be lost in a relatively short time period if left without treatment [29]. Remedial conservation actions may also sometimes modify the appearance of the objects. Restoration actions are applied to a single item when it has lost part of its significance or function because of past change or deterioration, although it should be always based on respect for the original materials. Restoration actions often modify objects appearance [29]. The actions and measures of conservation have been organized according to four criteria. First of all they target future, current and past deterioration. Secondly, they influence the materials and structures of the cultural heritage items both directly and indirectly. Thirdly, they can be applied to only one object or groups of objects. The fourth criterion evaluates conservation actions by evaluating whether these actions can be seen or not on the cultural heritage item [30]. Preventive conservation is more than a technical set of methods of monitoring and adjusting climate,
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light and handling conditions to non-destructive levels, it seeks answers to questions of how and why cultural heritage is preserved [17]. Preventive conservation activities also include learning from prior traditions and experiences in collection care [18]. Scientific research on the factors that cause deterioration in cultural heritage have made possible to apply more specific methods of preventive care in collection management [31]. Planning based preventive conservation applications are also a cost-effective way to reduce deterioration and to maintain integrity and authenticity of cultural heritage [32]. The theory of preventive conservation is strongly influenced by the concept of non-interventive approaches [25]. This theory also provides tools for the development of damage prevention in catastrophic situations and daily maintenance of cultural heritage sites. Barclay Jones defined two deterioration mechanisms that threaten cultural heritage: the factors that slowly deteriorate cultural heritage materially, and the incidents that rapidly and catastrophically destroy cultural heritage in a very short time period [33]. Slow deterioration of objects over a long time period is generally caused, for example, by environmental, storage material or place of storage issues. Rapid and catastrophic damage in cultural heritage are caused by, for example, water damages such as floods, fires, sabotage, natural disasters, terror attacks or acts of war [34]. There are two important aspects to preventive conservation, the technical and the organisational aspects. The technical aspect deals with monitoring and controlling the collections. The organisational aspect involves people who are working with cultural heritage or who are in contact with
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it [35]. At the institutional level the preventive care begins with the collection policies and the means of collection management [31]. To work effectively, preventive conservation methods require multidisciplinarily approach and awareness in everyday actions. The organizational level in preventive conservation should be viewed more broadly especially in the cases of cultural heritage sites and landscapes. In these cases, the preventive conservation process should involve all people and entire communities that live nearby the cultural heritage site [32]. Simon Knell has presented the idea that there are four scientific research levels when preventive conservation methods are developed to protect cultural heritage [36]: at the first stage, parameters of the factors threatening the cultural heritage are listed and evaluated; at the second level the significance of the listed safety threats are evaluated; the third step in the development process is to find methods to estimate the effects of these threats on cultural heritage; and the fourth level in the development process is to apply methods to remove the collection safety threats. The main risk factors for collections are found in indoor storage environments. These factors are climate, gases, pollution and microbiological factors. Significant risks in indoor climate relate to inappropriate humidity, temperature and light, and it is affected by wall thickness, air leakage, ventilation system, heating, solar radiation and the number of visitors. The amount of outdoor pollens in indoor environment depends on the buildings ventilation system. Microbiological attacks in indoor environment are related to the temperature and relative humidity of the air [35]. Risk assessment and risk-based models have been increasingly applied to preventive conservation field since the 1990s [37]. Jonathan
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Ashley-Smiths Risk Assessment for Object Conservation that was published in 1999 is a fundmental publication in the field of risk assessment. According to Robert Waller, risk analysis, material research on cultural heritage items and more precise definition of deteriorative parameters effects on cultural heritage have enabled the use of risk management applications in preventive conservation methods [37]. This has made the evaluation of potential damages and threats to collections very effective. Evaluation does not concentrate on existing damage when setting overall priorities for the preservation [36]. Risk assessment is always based on surveys evaluating the collection condition. Otherwise, the chosen treatments to manage the collection are not targeted specifically to what is affecting it at the moment and what might affect it in the future [38]. Minimal intervention can be examined individually for each item in the collection as well as for one entire collection inside a large and diverse collections complex. This conservation approach can sometimes be considered problematic if an item is important from both cultural history and aesthetic standpoint. Minimal intervention treatments can sometimes focus on short-term results on individual objects deterioration. Long-term effects on the objects aesthetic appearance might fail in this preservation process. Minimal intervention approach has also been seen as problematic from the collections accessibility perspective. For example, this has sometimes meant that objects are considered unfit to be loaned or displayed because of their poor condition [25]. According to Joel Taylor, integration of the collection condition study and risk assessment has made possible to establish a probable cause of damage in addition to the type of damage. Robert Waller introduced the idea that the format of risk assessment can be based on the following
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mathematical formula of risk: P FS E LV, where P stands for probability of damage, FS is the fraction of the collection susceptible to damage, E stands for the extent of damage, and LV the expected loss of value in the collection [38]. This risk assessment makes possible to identify the methods of control. Robert Waller presents three general methods of control in collections risk management: to eliminate the source of risk; to place a barrier between the source of the risk and the collection; and to act on the agent responsible for the risk [26]. Risk assessment and risk-based applications in preventive conservation have enabled mathematical modelling3 of environmental conditions in historic buildings from the early 2000s. The computer model is not only used to simulate the historic buildings environmental conditions, but also to predict the effects a single change might have on the preservation process of the collection [39].

is prudent to say that the ethics of conservation support the idea of minimal intervention tendencies. All the ethical principles of conservation support the idea that treatments should to be performed using a minimalist approach. Conservation treatments, both interventive and noninterventive, should therefore be based on the needs of the items to secure their values and functions. In order to keep the integrity of cultural heritage objects intact, these items should be preserved through preventive conservation methods so carefully that the remedial conservation actions could be avoided or minimized. Preventive conservation is likely the only theoretical approach in conservation that enables preservative actions to reach entire cultural heritage sites or collections at the same time. Because preventive conservation actions are indirect and they do not interfere with the structure and materials of objects, it best preserves the objects authenticity and integrity. All the conservation treatments that are directly carried out on an item have influence in its materials, raising the question of reversibility. The conservation treatments may later on lead to more complex problems from the preservation and re-treatment point of view. Preventive conservation is the only conservation approach which does not raise concerns about the treatments reversibility of an object. The reason for this is that preventive conservation operates on the object own material degradation process. Today, the concept of continuous preventive conservation and risk management has a leading role in many organisations conservation strategies for cultural heritage. Minimal intervention has proven to protect the historical integrity and authenticity of objects and provided the possibility of re-treatability. Planning based
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Conclusions The extent of cultural heritage and collections in memory institutions that ought to be preserved is growing rapidly. It is not possible to secure cultural heritage through individual items remedial conservation now or in the coming years. Although all three aspects of conservation have their place, it is the preventive conservation applications that will secure the future of cultural heritage. Through all the theories on cultural heritage evaluation and preservation ethics presented, it

3 Changing parameters in this modelling are such as indoor en-

vironment, air quality, pollution, decay and human interaction.

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preventive conservation and risk management has proven to be a cost-effective way to maintain the value of cultural heritage. Cultural heritage items will preserve their integrity and authenticity the best way possible by avoiding or minimizing deterioration. A deteriorated item that has been conserved using remedial conservation treatments does not reverse its deterioration even if the items condition is stabilized. Preventive conservation approach should be expanded to a wider range of activities that might have an impact on the preservation of cultural heritage in the future. Preventive conservation theory provides large scale of areas in which preventive conservation based models could be developed and applied to improve the preservation of individual items and enlarging collections. Growing understanding of the deterioration processes plays an important part in this development process. One of the areas where preventive conservation applications could contribute significantly is the maintenance and basic cleaning of outdoor museums and historic buildings. These sites are in intensive use and have to be continuously maintained by using various cleaning methods.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation and the Department of Art and Culture Studies of the University of Jyvskyl for financial support and funding of my PhD research. Valuable comments on my article have been given to me by my PhD supervisors professor of arts education Pauline von Bonsdorff and professor of museology Janne Vilkuna both from University of Jyvskyl. My sister Heli Wirilander-Crotty has been a great help in proofreading my English translation.

References [1] W. Welburn, V. Pitchford, C. Alire, M. Brown, K. E. Downing, A. Rivera, J. Welburn, M. Winston, Memory, Authenticity and Cultural Identity: The Role of Library Programs, Services and Collections in Creating Community, IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council, 23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy, 2009, pp. 2-3, URL [PDF] (accessed 08.02.2012) [2] The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 1954, UNESCO, p. 1, URL (accessed 08.02.2012) [3] M. V. Cloonan Michle, The Moral Imperative to Preserve, Library trends 55(3), 2007, p. 747 [4] M. V. Cloonan, The Paradox of Preservation, Library Trends 56(1), 2007, p. 133-147 [5] L. Smith, Use of Heritage, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, p. 3

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[6] J. Kostet, Kokoelmien muodostaminen, in P. Kinanen, Pauliina (ed.), Museologia tnn, Suomen museoliiton julkaisuja 57, Suomen museoliitto, Helsinki, 2007, p. 136137 [7] M. Turnpenny, Cultural Heritage, an III-defined Concept? A Call for Joined-up Policy, International Journal of Heritage Studies 10(3), 2004, p. 298 [8] J. Jokilehto (Selected by), Definition of Cultural Heritage, Reference to documents in history, ICCROM Working Group for Heritage and Society (Originally for ICCROM in 1990), Revised for CIF: 15 January 2005, 2002, pp. 5, 42-43, URL [PDF] (accessed 08.02.2012) [9] Background Document on the Notion of Integrity, UNESCO, International World Heritage Expert Meeting on Integrity for Cultural Heritage, 12-15 March 2012, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 2012, p. 2, URL [PDF] (accessed 03.04.2012) [10] H. Stovel, Effective use of authenticity and integrity as world heritage qualifying conditions, City & Time 2(3), p. 23, 2007, URL [PDF] (accessed 10.03.2012) [11] C. Hargrove, Authenticity in Cultural Heritage Tourism, Reflections, Quarterly Newsletter 34(4), 2003, p. 2, URL (accessed 08.02.2012) [12] J. Jokilehto, J. King, Meeting on Authenticity and Integrity in an African Context, 2000, p. 1, URL (accessed 05.04.2012) [13] Nara Document on Authenticity, Report of the Experts Meeting, Summary of ICCROM Position Paper, Amsterdam 1998, 1994, pp. 1-3, URL (accessed 08.02.2012) [14] J. Vilkuna, "Uusi museologia ja kulttuuriperinnn tulkinnat", in P. Venlinen (ed.),
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Kulttuuriperint ja oppiminen, Suomen tammi, p. 50, 2008, URL [PDF] (accessed 15.04.2012) [15] T. ola, "What theory? What heritage? Some excerpts form the current book project on heritology", Nordisk Museologi 2005(2), pages 316, 2005, p. 8, URL [PDF] (accessed 06.04.2012) [16] M. Petzet, Principles of preservation, ICCROM, 2004, p. 9, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [17] S. Lambert, "Italy and the history of preventive conservation", CeROArt 2010, URL (accessed 08.02.2012) [18] M. Koller, "Learning from the history of preventive conservation", Preventive conservation: practice, theory and research, Preprints of the contributions to the Ottawa Congress, 12-16 September 1994, Page: 1, 1994, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [19] Edwards, "Pietro 1777: Decalogo del restauratore", in V. Tiozzo (ed.), Dal decalogo Edwards alla carta del Restauro, Pratiche e principi del restauro dei dipinti, Il prato, Padua, 2001 [20] P. Edwards, Ristretto delle cose principali da prendersi in considerazione per la custodia delle pubbliche pitture, Commissione 1o giugno, 1798 [21] J. Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999, pp. 174175, 1999 [22] H.-C. von Imhoff, "Aspects and Development of Conservator-Restorers Profession since WWII", e-conservation magazine 8, 2009, p. 2, 4, URL (accessed 17.04.2012) [23] I. Vinson, "ICCROMs Contribution to the Ethics of Heritage", Museum International 243
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(Vol 61, vol. 3. ), UNESCO, 2009, p. 90, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [24] R. Alcntara, Standards in Preventive Conservation: Meaning and Applications, ICCROM 20 June 2002, pp. 7-8, 12, 2002, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [25] M. R. Redondo, "Is Minimal Intervention a Valid Guiding Principle?", e-conservation magazine 5, 2008, URL (accessed 17.04.2012) [26] R. Waller, "Preventive conservation planning for large and diverse collections", Preservation of Collections: Assessment, Evaluation, and Mitigation Strategies, Prepints of the June 10-11, 1996 Workshop, American Institute for Conservation, Washington, 1996, p. 1-9, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [27] International Charter for The Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (The Venice Charter 1964), ICOMOS, p. 2, URL [PDF] (accessed 17.04.2012) [28] ICOM-CC Definition of profession, URL (accessed 10.04.2012) [29] Terminology to characterize the conservation of tangible cultural heritage, Resolution adopted by the ICOM-CC membership at the 15th Triennial Conference New Delhi, 22-26 September 2008, pp. 1-2, 2008, URL (accessed 17.04.2012) [30] Commentary on the ICOM-CC Resolution on Terminology for Conservation, Rome, 7-8 March 2008, pp. 1-2, URL (accessed 17.04.2012) [31] C. L. Rose, C. A. Hawks, "A preventive conservation approach to the storage of collections", in C. L. Rose, C. A. Hawks, H. H. Genoways (ed.), Storage of Natural History Collections: A Preventive
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Conservation Approach, 1995, pp. 1, 3-4. URL [PDF] (accessed 10.04.2012) [32] N. Putt, S. Slade, Teamwork for Preventive Conservation, ICCROM e-doc 2004/01 vers. 1.0 released 12/02/04, 2004, p. 1, URL [PDF] (accessed 10.04.2012) [33] B. G. Jones, Protecting Historic Architecture and Museum Collections from Natural Disasters, Butterworth, p. 4-5, 1986 [34] L. L. Reger, "A Cooperative Approach to Emergency Preparedness and Response", in J. G. Wellheiser, N. E. Gwinn (ed.), Preparing for the Worst, Planning for the Best: Protecting our Cultural Heritage from Disaster, Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the IFLA Preservation and Conservation Section, the IFLA Core Activity for Preservation and Conservation, Berlin, Germany, July 30 - August 1, 2003, K. G. Saur, Munchen, 2005, p. 17 [35] E. Dahlin, "Preventive conservation strategies of organic objects in museums, historic buildings and archives", Conference paper, 5th European Commission Conference, 16-18 May 2002 Cracow Poland, Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2002, p. 57-58, URL [PDF] (accessed 10.04.2012) [36] S. Knell (ed.), Care of collections, Leicaster Readers in museum studies, TJ International, 1997, p. 84 [37] R. Waller, "A Risk Model for Collection preservation", Preeprints of the 13th Triennial Meeting Rio De Janeiro, Vol. I, ICOM Committee for Conser-vation, Page: 21, 2002 [38] J. Taylor, "An Integrated approach to risk assessments and condition surveys", Journal of
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the American Institution for Conservation 44(2), 2005, URL (accessed 10.04.2012) [39] D. Watts, B. Colston, A. Blow, Predicting damp-related problems in historic buildings and monuments used for library and archive purpose, Cobra 2001, Conference papers, p. 8, 2001, URL [PDF] (accessed 10.04.2012)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

e-conservation magazine is open to submission of articles on a wide range of relevant topics for the cultural heritage sector. Next deadlines for article submission are: for Issue 24, September 2012 submissions due 15h May 2012 for Issue 25, March 2013 submissions due 15th November 2012 Nevertheless, you can always submit your manuscript when it is ready. Upon revision, it will be published as soon as possible depending on: - the number of the manuscripts on hold, submitted earlier by other authors - the release date of the upcoming issue - the pre-allocated space in the magazine to each section Please check our publication guidelines for more information.

HEIDI WIRILANDER
Conservator-restorer Contact: heidi.s.i.wirilander@student.jyu.fi Heidi Wirilander is a textile conservator. She holds a BA (2004) and a MA (2008) in Conservation at EVTEK, Finland and a MA (2010) in Museology at the University of Jyvskyl, Finland. In addition, she possesses qualifications to supervise and plan maintenance and basic cleaning measures in outdoor museums and historic buildings. Heidi works as an entrepreneur in the area of conservation in Helsinki Finland and works on her Ph.D. studies in museology at University of Jyvskyl. Heidis Ph.D. thesis discusses preventive conservation of cultural heritage collections and collection management issues in catastrophic situations, covering 19 incidents that have occurred in Finland between 1990 and 2010. She is a member of ICOM (Finland), ICOM-CC (textiles working group and preventive conservation working group) and IIC the Nordic Group Finland (NKF Finland).
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THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION

By Ali Miri

ALI MIRI

Cultural heritage includes any artifacts, natural sites or intangible culture that contains significance and value. Regardless of its physical dimensions, the excellence of cultural heritage depends entirely on its meaning and importance. It carries an intrinsic message from its time to the future generations. Historic structures, buildings, sites and objects (works of art) are some of the most important resources and need to be preserved and protected. The history, philosophy and theory of preservation of historic buildings and structures can be traced back to the 19th century by examining the ideas of John Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc, who are considered by many to be two of the first conservation/preservation theorists. Many others followed, such as Gustavo Giovannoni, Luca Beltrami, Camillo Boito, Camilo Sitte, Cesare Brandi, Renato Bonelli, Paul Philippot and Sir Bernard Feilden, among others. Ruskin, a poet, writer and art critic, believed nothing from the present should disturb the remnants of the past and that a building is born, lives and then, dies. In his book The Seven Lamps of Architecture (first published in 1849), Ruskin discussed the qualities, authenticity and values of historic buildings and structures. He refers to the seven lamps of architecture as principles for the maintenance and importance of those buildings. These lamps are Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life, Memory and Obedience. For each of them, Ruskin discusses a different aspect of the maintenance of cultural property. For the lamp of Memory, he said [1, p. 194]: Neither by the public, nor by those who have the care of public monuments, is the true meaning of the word restoration understood. It is the means the most total destruction which a building worst manner can suffer: a
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destruction out of which no remnants can be gathered: a destruction accompanied with false description of the thing destroyed. Do not let us deceive ourselves in this important matter; it is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture []. Another spirit may be given by another time, and it is then a new building; []. And as for direct and simple copying, it is palpably impossible. [] Do not let us talk then of restoration. The thing is a Lie from beginning to end. With the above statement, Ruskin wanted to express his point of view in an extreme way. He believed historic buildings and structures should not be preserved or restored to the point of actually being replaced. He further stated [1, p. 196]: Watch an old building with an anxious care; guard it as best you may, and at any cost, from every influence of dilapidation. Count its stones as you would jewels of a crown". With this, Ruskin defends we should be caring, by observing and maintaining historic buildings and structures scrupulously which ultimately will extend their life. He also believed that we should try to keep the authenticity and the originality of the cultural heritage as much as possible without any intervention or replacement of materials. Conversely, Viollet-le-Duc believed one should fill in the blanks of a damaged building or restore it completely. To him, the building could or should be restored to a state or condition as good as possible. A condition that might never have been actually existed as long as it was coherent with the true nature of the building. Viollet-le-Duc summarized his opinion of restoration in the following definition [2]: Restoration: Both the word and the thing are modern. To restore an edifice means neither to maintain it, nor to repair
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CONCEPT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION

it, nor to rebuild it; it means to reestablish it in a finished state, which may in fact have never existed at any given time. Between these two diametrically opposed theories lies Camillo Boitos perspective as balance between them. Boito believed that a monument is a historical document, and should be restored to the extent that is faithful to the document without adding to or deleting from its original content [3]. With his theory, he established several principles that are still today used for restoration. One of those principles is that the original and restored parts of a building should be distinguishable and visible which shows the legitimate and sincere restoration of the objects. He also suggested that other important principles are reversibility and minimum intervention. These came into the picture to minimize the impact preservation processes have on historically significant objects. Having briefly reviewed these different philosophies of the 19th centuries, I would like to continue outlining proposed procedures of what I think would be preservation of cultural resources and ultimately for historic structure preservation today. Preservation by itself is instinctive in human beings. Since the beginning, humans were protecting, repairing and cleaning their own shelter, whether it was a cave or an independent standing structure, although at that time there were no philosophies, theories, rules, regulations or standards. The general concept of preservation relates to the safeguarding of cultural resources. The degree of the significance of the resource relates to its value or values. These values include social, economical, political, scientific, aesthetic, philosophical,
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spiritual, architectural, archeological, sentimental, age considerations and so on. Some of these resources may have a limited value in the present but which can increase exponentially in the future. A family photo, for example, has inherent value at the time it is taken. The significance of the photo is probably limited to the members of the family. One hundred years later the same photo can be significant not only to that familys descendants but possibly to all of society. Future generations can understand more about that era from the photo which contains clues to material culture of the period and to the socio-economic and cultural position of the family, tribes and society. Similarly in a broader degree, a historic structure (exterior and interior of a building), an archeological site, a historic center of a city, a historic landscape, a museum or an art object have the potential to represent a particular period or periods in history. But first, someone has to acknowledge that fact and read the clues. Cultural heritage can be viewed as a work of art representing its own time. It represents the culture and techniques of time along with the sentiment, intent and conscience of its designer, artist or craftsman. Essential to any work of art or piece of cultural heritage is the recognition of its values and significance by the individuals or the society. When recognition of a work of art registers in an individual or a professional (such as a historical architect, historical landscape architect, archeologist, curator or craftsman), that is the moment when the values of the object or structure are fully appreciated and recognized. That appreciation has also a strong impact on the conscience of the professional and eventually on his/her decisions
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subsequently made to preserve the object. In other words, a site, structure or work of art will not be considered of historic significance and values until it is recognized by professionals and individuals or society. Unawareness of knowing the significance of a site, building or works of art renders it without value. The recognition and comprehension of the cultural heritage values also has a direct relationship to the knowledge, awareness and experience of the professional person or individual. This recognition influences the selection of the policy, method and degree of intervention and the approach towards the preservation of cultural heritage. This approach towards preservation becomes more systematic and organized with rules, regulations and policies. This recognition should create a link between the cultural heritage and the professionals intelligence, knowledge, experience and comprehension of values, decision making and selection of preservation methodology, and application of techniques (Diagram 1). This cycle or thought process takes place several times during the preservation of the cultural resources. Recognition of the values and significance of a historic site, a historic structure (interior and the exterior) or a work of art dictates the fundamentals of the planning and the procedure of the preservation and not vice versa, i.e. the procedure is not determined /fixed until the cultural heritage is more studied and understood. The act of preservation begins when the study and analysis of the resource starts and gradually a connection between the professional and the cultural resource materializes; depth of this connection continues to develop throughout the process of preservation and matures more and more. The knowledge, experience and professionalism of the expert enable him/her to establish a line of real or subliminal communication between
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him/herself and the cultural resource. It is this sensitive, friendly and spiritual dialogue between the professional and the cultural resource that leads to accurate planning and selecting appropriate materials and procedures for the preservation or restoration of cultural properties. When the connection between the individual and the cultural resource reaches its highest point, the spiritual communication begins. It is at this moment in time that the intellect of the individual with her/his knowledge, experience, sentiment and imagination creates an intuitive spiritual relation with the resource. This relationship creates more respect in the individual toward the resource (a good example is a church, mosque, synagogues or a Buddhist temple and the feeling a person has when they enter the church for prayer). The act of recognition of the cultural resource is integral to the act of preservation. It is the act of recognition that determines the principles for preservation or intervention on the cultural resources. It is the act of the recognition that brings the significance, integrity, character, authenticity and tangible and intangible values of the components of the cultural resource into the consideration and also establishes the character defining elements of the resource. Once the bond between the resource and the professional has been formed through the act of recognition, the cultural resource represents itself a valuable object embodying certain artistic, historic, scientific, architectural, philosophical, political and other values that were created by humans at a certain time and place. I believe old buildings are analogues to human beings. They were created, lived and died. If the human body is taken care of, it will usually live longer. The same situation applies to the cultural heritage especially historic buildings and
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CONCEPT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION

Recognition of Cultural Heritage

Application of techniques, required standards and policies

Professionals knowledge, experience and awareness

Preservation planning, strategy and methodology Decision making on the basis of professionals knowledge, experience and resources values

Evaluation of resource, comprehension of the values

Diagram 1. Process of evaluation, recognition and selection of methodology, policies and standards on the bases of professional knowledge, experience for preservation of cultural heritage.

structures. If we maintain cultural heritage properly, it will live longer. The physical, technical, aesthetic and character defining elements of the resources and the professional receptiveness, experience, knowledge and above all admiration and compassion should be considered as principles that guide the preservation and intervention and support transmitting the cultural resource to the future. Recognition of the resource occurs repeatedly during the intervention phase in the professional intellect and conscience. Our cultural heritage talks to the professional. The professionals should know the language and listen with their eyes instead of their ears. The term listen is usually associated with ears instead of eyes. However, clues can be solved visually as well as verbally. A professional can look at a cultural heritage and perceive the problems. This perception is a result of the communication between the cultural heritage and the observation of the professional.
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Preservation of cultural resources can take place in many different ways. It all depends on the recognition, sensitivity, experience and awareness of the professionals and the planning, procedure and methods they ultimately choose. The original design, configuration, materials, character defining elements and the technique or techniques of construction originally utilized to bind them together should be respected, protected and preserved. Every effort, including thorough research should take place to ensure that the intervention does not diminish or change the character, integrity, authenticity and the values of the cultural resource. Whenever a professional or a team of professionals are faced with the preservation of a significant building, site or an object, that individual or professional team must consider the factors which are significant, such as the exterior, the interior, the structure and character defining elements of the historic structures. These are defined by and related to the significance of the architectural
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elements, style of architecture and above all the values of the building. In conclusion, recognition, professional knowledge, experience and awareness, evaluation of cultural heritage, comprehension of the values and ultimately proper decision making are fundamental factors for preservation planning and approach toward the protection of cultural heritage. Finally the first principle for the protection of cultural heritage is its permanent care and maintenance.

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References [1] J. Ruskin, Seven Lamps of Architecture, Crowell, 1880 [2] E.-E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonn de l'architecture franaise du XIe au XVIe sicle, Vol. 8, B. Bance, Paris, 1854, pp. 1434 [3] J. Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999

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ALI MIRI Historical Architect Dr. Ali A. Miri is an advocate for preservation of cultural heritage. He has been involved in the preservation/restoration of historic buildings and structures since 1969. He is an alumni of the International Center for the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the University of Rome, Italy, the University of Edinburgh, UK and the University of Tehran, Iran. At present he is working in the National Park Service (Southeast Region) in the Cultural Resources Division in USA.
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THE AIC GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND CONSERVATION DOCUMENTATION 2ND EDITION

Review by Rose Cull

Contributors: Jeffrey Warda (Editor), Franziska Frey, Dawn Heller, Dan Kushel, Timothy Vitale, Gawain Weaver Publisher: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Publication Year: 2011 Pages: 224 ISBN: 978-0-9760501-3-1 Language: English Price: $75.00

Now that film, photographic paper, and processing chemicals are difficult to find and digital photography is considerably faster, cheaper, and easier to share, digital photography for conservation documentation has become the dominant form of documentation in the field. With digital documentation come new standards and the rapid advances in digital technology (we all probably have a camera on our phone today that would have cost hundreds only a few years ago), there is a need to re-evaluate the standards for digital photography. The purpose of this second edition (the first edition was published in 2008) is to respond to advances in technology and offer more information about equipment, storage and backup of electronic records, and photographic techniques for conservation. The second edition is twice the size of the first edition, and spiral-bound so it can lie flat on a workspace.
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There have been a few major books on the topic of digital imaging most recently, Digital Heritage: applying digital imaging to cultural heritage, 2006, edited by Lindsay MacDonald and published by Butterworth-Heinemann, and Digital Imaging for Cultural Heritage Preservation: analysis, restoration, and reconstruction of ancient artworks, 2011, by Filippo Stanco, Sebastiano Battiato, and Giovanni Gallo with the University of Catania, Italy, published by CRC Press. Both of these books are 500+ pages long and assume the reader already has a thorough knowledge of digital processes and procedures. In contrast, the Guide is 224 pages in length, and it is designed as a usable

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BOOK REVIEW

and readable source about digital photography and documentation. Think of it like Digital photography and conser-vation documentation for dummies. The general tone of the book is encouraging, it is clear the authors have experience with a number of conservators who use pointand-shoot cameras and save all documentation as .jpg files, which must be frustrating. The guide is a general reference and how-to manual, so individual topics are indexed, and lead from the basic concepts to the more detailed stepby-step instructions. The chapters are ordered by: workflow, equipment, camera settings, image processing, storage and backup of electronic records, and photographic techniques for conservation. The chapters are in the order of how a photograph would be taken, processed, stored, and the final section offers tips specifically for conservators. Each chapter begins with a how to use this chapter section, and ends with a bibliography of other resources if the reader is interested in finding more information about a particular area. Later chapters reference previous chapters for more in-depth information about certain topics and websites are also referenced as areas to look for further information. The chapters use tables and charts very well to display information. Some of the images are very useful, but some serve more a decorative purpose of filling space rather than act in an informative or illustrative way and more of an effort could have been made to find more demonstrative images. The second chapter about equipment is particularly useful, it describes the current standards and makes product recommendations. For example, when purchasing a camera and looking at pixel information, it is most important to have a low pixel density and a high number of mega pixels. The pixel density is the relationship between the size of the sensor and the number of pixels, while
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some cameras with small sensors can have high levels of mega pixels, the pixel density will be high, meaning the pixels are smaller and have less sensitivity, more noise, and less dynamic range. After absorbing all their information in one part of the chapter, certain products are recommended based on these standards. This example illustrates the general tone of the book, the authors explain what they are trying to accomplish with digital documentation and then offer a few recommended materials or practices. I found chapter 6, Photographic techniques for conservation, very helpful for ideas about how to take illustrative images for conservation documentation. This is a technical reference and offers a variety of tips and tricks for documentation. The chapter begins with basic techniques and moves on to more complex techniques, for example, from photography in visible light to photomicrography, infrared photography, ultraviolet photography, and multispectral imagining. This chapter offers many visual examples of different types of photographic setups that can illustrate the condition issues of an artifact. The book concludes with an appendix of screenshots to walk you through the different processes such as tethered capture and adding metadata. Overall, I believe this is a very useful book for a conservation lab setting up a digital documentation system, or updating a current digital setup. I found that the contributors explained digital photography in a clear and organized way, which made a good reference book. ROSE CULL Conservator Rose Cull is a sculpture conservator and owner of Art Conservation Services LLC in Phoenix, USA. http://www.phoenixartconservation.com
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BOOK REVIEW

MATERIALS, TECHNOLOGIES, PRACTICE IN HISTORIC HERITAGE STRUCTURES

Review by Mirela Anghelache

Editors: Maria Bostenaru Dan, Richard P ikryl, and kos Trk Publisher: Springer Publication Year: 2010 Pages: 371 ISBN: 978-90-481-2683-5 Language: English Price: 129,95 The book is also available as a collection of chapters on SpringerLink

IT is edited by Maria Bostenaru Dan, Richard Pikryl and kos Trk. The book is dedicated to the assessment and conservation of materials in historic heritage structures. The book consists of 18 chapters, including an introduction, written by 41 authors and followed by an index. The chapters are subdivided by subtitles, and provided with abstracts which can be freely consulted on SpringerLink. The chapters are grouped in four sections: adobe and bricks; natural stone; binders, concrete and mixed materials; and monitoring the seismic risk. The authors are both from the academic field and conservation practice, and from the fields of architecture, civil engineering, conservation science, geology and material science. The front matter also includes a section about the editors and a list of contributors, besides the preface by the editors. The book has 371 pages and 120 illustrations.

Although sometimes erroneously listed as conference proceedings, the book consists of the full papers given in conferences, where only abstracts and invited papers were presented, that took place while the book was being prepared. In the introduction, Maria Bostenaru Dan, an architect based in Italy and Romania for the duration of the project, presents an overview, defines the characteristics and the significance of the materials that the sections will deal with, as well as the definitions of the terms used in the title and their background in defining cultural value, highlighting the innovation brought by the book. The first section consists of 3 papers, one on adobe and two on brick construction, featuring case studies from Spain, Portugal and Vietnam. All papers in this section are invited papers, after the conferences had taken place.
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BOOK REVIEW

The first chapter, a case study of Rammed-Earth Constructions in Andalusia, Spain by Eduardo Sebastian and Giuseppe Cultrone is the only chapter dealing with the earth as material, which has become nowadays very popular for sustainable construction. The second chapter, Ancient Clay Bricks: Manufacture and Properties, was written by Francisco M. Fernandes, Paulo B. Loureno and Fernando Castro from the University of Minho, Portugal where they present the results of their analysis of bricks from religious monuments throughout the country. The last chapter, written by Paola Condoleo from the Polytechnic School of Milan, is entitled The My Son Temples in Vietnam: Construction Techniques and Structural Issues and is a paper based on a cooperation project between Italy and Vietnam. Unlike the first two chapters dealing strictly with the materials chemical and physical characteristics, this paper deals with the structure itself and how the building technique influences it. The second section includes six papers on natural stone which were presented at a number of conference sessions organized in the frame of the European Geosciences Union General Assembly. The papers cover a wide range of European cities and periods, from Antiquity to today. Stone has never been completely replaced by modern materials in countries where there were the resources and tradition for this. Other continents present heritage built in stone as well, giving it a universal value. The third section includes six chapters on materials based on binders (mortar, plaster and concrete), thus materials used in binding the singular pieces to a masonry structure, to decorate or even to build the structure itself. It is here where the novelty of the book lies, looking to concrete from Antiquity, in the Maxentius basilica in Rome until (Southern) Italy, as well as for early iron-concrete. Only one
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of these papers, on age determination, had been presented at a conference. The first chapter, on The Basilica of Maxentius and Its Construction Materials and written by Carlo Giavarini, deals with one of Romes archaeological remains, and especially with its chemical properties. The so-called opus caementicium was a forerunner of todays concrete and made possible an innovation by the Romans compared to Greek architecture, namely the curved shapes of the vault in closing spans. Also, industrial production in Antiquity is looked for in every material. The paper introduces the natural disaster to which the last section of the book is dedicated: the church suffered an earthquake. The next chapter, Characterization of Ancient Pozzolanic Mortars from Roman Times to the 19th Century: Compatibility Issues of New Mortars with Substrates and Ancient Mortars by Ana Lusa Velosa, Rosrio Veiga, Joo Coroado, Victor M. Ferreira and Fernando Rocha from Portugal, looked at case studies from the Azores islands. It was underlined that new cement-based mortars may damage historic bricks, and therefore the use of lime mortars is advised for. The following chapter is dedicated to binders as well. Written by Roman Kozlowski, David Hughes and Johannes Weber, a team from Poland, UK and Austria working on an European project aimed at manufacturing again the so-called roman cement, it is entitled Roman Cements: Key Materials of the Built Heritage of the 19th Century. Besides the chemistry issues in the manufacture of the material, the artistic issues on the way the employment of the material marked the facades in the 19th century in Europe are key elements of the project. The next chapter is about a related topic, Historic Mortars and Plasters as a Material for Age
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BOOK REVIEW

Determination, and is written by Danuta Nawrocka, Tomasz Goslar and Anna Pazdur from Poland. Like in the case of stone, mortars and plasters are an indicator to age determination and, thus, a tool for the history of architecture. Care shall be taken with replacements in time, such as the one mentioned for stone, or in case of compatible mortars as described before. The last chapter is focused on early reinforced, a material of the 20th century, and was made by Mauro Mezzina, Fabrizio Palmisano and Giuseppina Uva from the Technical University of Bari. Such as a previous case, this paper deals with the physical instead of the chemical properties from a structural engineering point of view. Early reinforced concrete arrived to Italy with the Hennebique technique, introduced by the Porcheddu society, which made it less vulnerable. Today, such structures are being subject to conservation and functional conversion, such as the FIAT in Torino or numerous buildings in Genoa, and this goes in hand with studies of the structure. The fourth and last section deals with structures built with these materials, where brick or stone constitutes the elements and mortar the binder. The first chapter in this section is about the Heritage Masonry Buildings and Reduction of Seismic Risk: The Case of Slovenia by Miha Tomazevic. Seismic retrofitting methods aiming at conservation include the use of a new material of the end of the 20th century: fiber reinforced polymers, a current investigation topic in materials science. Concluding, the book is very well written, well illustrated with only black and white figures and drawings. It is recommended to everyone who works in research of how to conserve and restore todays buildings built with traditional materials. Particularly in countries where this is rarely undertaken, it proves a unique resource to learn from
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experience from Western and Central Europe, particularly Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia and Spain. It includes also a case study from outside Europe, in Vietnam. A drawback of the book is that it doesnt consider materials such as timber and metal. Nonetheless, the aim was to provide materials for so-called Massivbau, the German denomination for masonry and reinforced concrete construction, avoiding light skeleton materials such as metal and timber. Also, the point of view of the architect involved in conservation and restoration has come short. Nevertheless, the book is listed as useful literature for architects and included in the database on architecture works and creations archINFORM. Thus, a later work should deal with essays on significance of material and Kenneth Framptons tectonics [K. Frampton, Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, John Cava (ed.), MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1995] about how material influences the architectural expression. This may be, however, more important for new buildings than for existing ones. We hope to have provided a comprehensive review which would encourage further literature research in this direction, maybe through contacting the contributors to learn more about the work they have done on the real sites of the case studies.

MIRELA ANGHELACHE Geologist Mirela Anghelache, geologist and researcher at the Institute of Geodynamics of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania.
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e-conservation magazine offers the possibility to publish bilingual articles in the html version. Articles in English may also be published in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian, at authors request.

No. 24, Autumn 2012 ISSN: 1646-9283 Registration Number

125248 Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicao Social

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