Brushstrokes & Breakthroughs: Science decodes Art

How do we reconnect with artists from centuries ago to understand their creative process? Since time travel is not really an option, the restoration of works of art is the next best thing. The first step is removing old layers of yellowed varnish and misaligned retouching. We then gain access to traces and clues that we can piece together to understand the tools, materials, and techniques that allowed the artwork to come to life.

“Words faint, writing remains”. Well, not always. And this makes it challenging to unveil the story of ancient artifacts. Two of the earliest Italian violins were thought to be linked to French and Spanish kings in the 16th century. But from a very different field came the real answer: using an X-ray-based technique to map the composition of the surface of these violins, we could finally read their coats of arms that were once illegible. The verdict? The violins did not belong to the kings’ musicians, but to their wives! Discover how reading through matter can provide new historical insights.

Chiaroscuro woodcuts were revolutionary for enabling artists to produce, in a mechanical way, colored images. Printing with multiple woodblocks resulted in images with high contrast and full of life. But how can we know how artists in the 16th century chose their pigments (without taking samples of those valuable artworks)? Chemical analysis once again comes to our rescue. With this talk, you will discover how non-invasive analysis methods give us insights on whether artists could modify their work after printing, on potential influences between different parts of Europe, and much more!