How Science found Mona Lisa’s Pearl Necklace · The Mona Lisa once wore a pearl necklace. The words “once wore” should not apply to a static individual in a painting. While

How Science found Mona Lisa’s Pearl Necklace:

The evolution of scientific involvement in art history from the

nineteenth century to the twenty-first century

Julia Ilana Eckstein

Honors Thesis for Science, Technology and Society

University of Pennsylvania

December 2012

Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D.

1

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Jonathan D. Moreno, University of Pennsylvania David and Lyn Silfen

Professor, for his guidance and support in my pursuit of this topic. His enthusiasm and curiosity

inspired me in my research and writing. In addition, I would like to thank the University of

Pennsylvania Science, Technology and Society Department for introducing me to subjects that

have truly shaped my undergraduate academic experience.

This project would not have been possible without the unwavering encouragement from my

parents who shared their love of art and its history with me from a very young age. I would also

like to thank my brother who has continuously confirmed that interests in the hard sciences and

the arts are not mutually exclusive.

2

Abstract

Today, academic disciplines often collaborate as a means of achieving profound intellectual

truths. Twenty-first century art history exhibits this method of research in its mobilization of

chemistry, astronomy, and physics to investigate artworks. However, the beginning of art history

as an institution in the eighteenth century established the field as an elite and exclusive area of

study. The same was true of traditional sciences. It was not until museums were built and society

attributed cultural importance to artworks that the art world acknowledged the possibility of

scientific contributions, especially in the context of conservation. International political turmoil

during World War I and World War II accelerated this shift in perspective as cultural objects

stored in museums needed protection from destruction. Securing museums and ensuring

paintings and sculptures were properly stored and restored led to the introduction of conservation

science, museum laboratories, and innovative scientific techniques. Chemical analysis formed

the foundation of conservation science; however, with the development and commercialization

of infrared photography following World War I, astronomers and scientists realized that using

this radiation to analyze paintings would reveal critical aspects of the layers beneath a work’s

visible surface. This realization made infrared technology a revolutionary tool in art examination.

It also suggested that art historians and scientists were not so different in their research methods

and academic curiosities. Consequently, contemporary international networks in art and

astronomy pursue similar goals: preservation and progress.

3

INTRODUCTION

The Mona Lisa once wore a pearl necklace. The words “once wore” should not apply to a

static individual in a painting. While scholars in art history have extensively analyzed the Mona

Lisa’s smile, her eyes, whether or not she was really a she, the prospect that she wore something

other than what appears in the painting seemed implausible. With the exception of material

deterioration, the image on the surface of the canvas is the final product. This is the image we

and so many observe in museums. However, in 1992, John F. Asmus of the Institute for Pure and

Applied Physical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, published “Mona Lisa

Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing.”1 His analysis revealed that Leonardo Da Vinci

adorned the Mona Lisa with pearls and sat her in front of a different backdrop.

In order to conduct this research, Dr. Asmus received grants from the National Science

Foundation and the IBM Corporation.2 He used the IBM 3090 for image processing, worked

with individuals at the IBM Palo Alto Scientific Center, and digitized images at NASA’s Jet

Propulsion Laboratory.3 While the Louvre Museum in Paris provided the physical painting, the

actual research and processing took place exclusively in laboratories by traditionally trained

physicists. In 1986, six years before Dr. Asmus formally published his findings, The New York

Times published a piece by Walter Sullivan entitled “Space-Age Methods Penetrate Art of the

Past.” The article explained how technology used to process images of the rings of Saturn was

now being applied to art of the “great masters.”4 It may be surprising that physics was being

directly applied to research in the arts. However, the application of “space-age” technology in the

1 John F. Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” Materials Characterization (1992):

119-128. 2 Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” 128.

3 Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” 128.

4 Walter Sullivan, “Space-Age Methods Explore Art of the Past,” New York Times (June 1986): C1.

4

discipline of art history is not novel nor is the participation of scientists in studying and

investigating this field. What is new is the type of technology applied.

The link between science and artwork, specifically between astronomy and painting

began at the turn of the 14th

century with Giotto di Bondone’s wall painting Adoration of the

Magi. The painting or fresco depicts the Matthew 2:11 section of the Bible in which three magi

find Jesus by following a star, usually depicted as the Star of Bethlehem, and present him with

gifts.5 In Giotto’s painting what many have concluded is Halley’s Comet takes the place of the

Star of Bethlehem.6 Giotto worked on the painting in Padua, Italy, one of the new centers of

mathematics and astronomy.7

According to Roberta J. M. Olson, art historian of the New York Historical Society,

Giotto was the first to make the physical truth of astronomy a central element of a painting.8

When compared to contemporary images of Halley’s Comet, Giotto’s painting is “anatomically

correct” most likely because of his particular interest in empiricism and observation.9 Thus, the

“shooting star” in the painting appears to be his interpretation of the 1301 Halley’s Comet. The

painting was completed in 1306 and is housed in the Arena Chapel.

The astronomical aspects of Giotto’s work not only shocked his contemporaries but also

encouraged investigation by 20th

century astronomers into the timing of the painting and the

placement of the comet. Jay Pasachoff, astronomer and professor at Williams College, has

collaborated with Olson on investigating Adoration of the Magi and other paintings which were

supposedly influenced by astronomy. David W. Hughes, Kevin K.C. Yau, and F. Richard

5 R. J. M. Olson and J. M. Pasachoff, "Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy."

Meteoritics & Planetary Science 37 (2002): 1564. 6 Olson and Pasachoff, "Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1564.

7 Olson and Pasachoff, “Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1564.



5

Stephenson, referred to by Olson as “a trio of distinguished astronomers,” published “Much Ado

About Giotto’s Comet” in 1993. The piece is an analysis of the three comets that would have

been visible to Giotto in the first five years of the 14th

century.10

In 1980 the European Space

Agency launched a spacecraft named Giotto, after Giotto di Bondone, to fly by and study

Halley’s Comet.11

This partnership between the art historian and the astronomer or scientist is symbiotic.

Analysis in both disciplines yields insights into the perceptions of the artist and historical events

in science. Art and science have long enjoyed a mutual respect. That is not to say there is no

tension between art historians and scientists, but rather that in their core objectives they exhibit

similar analytical skills. They are deeply concerned with materials and composition. They

develop and utilize new techniques, follow procedures, and attribute particular importance to

history.

In order to understand this modern relationship and how scientists like John Asmus or

David W. Hughes began analyzing paintings, an overview of the history of science and art is

necessary. The two fields did not formally converge until each was established as an institution,

and the integration of advanced technologies did not occur until society underwent a significant

socio-political shift. More specifically, new photographic technologies of World War I and the

commercialization of these instruments meant that the application of science for national

protection would expand to include cultural protection. This cultural relevance would ultimately

yield a partnership between the scientist and the art historian, one in which understanding artistic

truths was consistent with understanding scientific truths.

10

D. W. Hughes, K. K. C. Yau, and F. R. Stephenson, "Giotto's Comet--was it the Comet of 1304 and not Comet Halley?" Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 34 (1992): 21-32. 11

David Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 128.

6

ORGANIZATION AS INSTITUTIONS

In the centuries following Giotto’s painting, art, its mediums, and its subjects evolved.

The same can be said for science and, more specifically, the fields of astronomy, physics, and

mathematics during the Copernican Revolution. The paradigmatic Renaissance man Leonardo da

Vinci simultaneously acted as a scientist and an artist. Where art and science differentiated

themselves was in their institutions. In science, organization within universities and the

formalizing of communication through societies and journals began in 1660 with the Royal

Society of London.12

The Society acted as a platform for scientists to report observations and discoveries while

corresponding with members through the Philosophical Transactions.13

Societies in France and

Germany developed in the 18th

century, and the Royal Astronomical Society was founded in

1820. These institutions exhibited an air of exclusivity and prestige.14

In France, Louis XIV’s

centralized government funded the Académie Royale des Sciences with the expectation that the

society would produce tools for navigation and travel. Thus, scientific organizations began to

take on a national role, contributing to the power of a given state.

In the context of art, artwork was first formally displayed in a public institution in 1793

with the opening of the Louvre in Paris.15

That is not to say art was not important before this

period but rather that there was not a government funded institution organized specifically for the

public display of a collection. The Louvre was the world’s first museum. It opened immediately

following the French Revolution as a means of empowering the French people and granting them

12

Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Rhys Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 323. 13

Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 325. 14

Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 325. 15

Douglas Brent McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” The German Critique, no. 99 (Fall 2006): 212.

7

access to the home of the French monarchy.16

The museum and its works functioned as national

symbols. Following the opening of the Louvre, European nations increasingly established

museums as representations of patriotism and national unity. Several museums opened in

national monuments or buildings that resembled government architecture as was the case with

Germany’s National Gallery. 17

These nineteenth century museums attracted an audience

sympathetic to royalty and maintained the activity of museum-going as a high-society interest.

As institutions, scientific societies and art museums were distinct entities.

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the perception of national power shifted

towards technological innovation and economic superiority. The Great Exhibition of London in

1851 in the Crystal Palace embodied this image of technological innovation.18

The Royal Society

of the Arts, an institution founded in 1754 and based in London, organized the building of the

Crystal Palace which would house popular science and demonstrate its applications.19

Michael

Faraday, Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of London, sat on the board of

the Great Exhibition.20

Faraday’s work in electromagnetism and electrochemistry targeted

exposing metropolitan socialites to the newest discoveries. His lectures carried over to the

national popularization and utilization of these innovations.21

One of the aims of the Royal

Institution and the ultimate goal of the Great Exhibition was to demonstrate technical solutions to

society’s problems.

16

McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” 212. 17

McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” 213-214 18

John McKean, “Joseph Paxton: Crystal Palace London 1851,” in Lost Masterpieces, by John McKean, Stuart Durant and Steve Parissien (London: Phaidon, 1999),. 19

McKean, “Joseph Paxton: Crystal Palace London 1851,” 20

James Hamilton, Faraday: The Life (London: HarperCollins, 2002), 265. 21

Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 334, 372.

8

On opening day, the Great Exhibition drew crowds of over 25,000 to London.22

It

exposed middle class Britons and tourists to technology’s commoditization.23

However, crowds

were not drawn solely to the Crystal Palace; they also visited London’s museums and cultural

centers, among them, the National Gallery.

The National Gallery opened in 1824 with a collection of pieces from a British banker

and local artists who promised their pictures to “the nation.”24

The museum’s first director,

Charles Lock Eastlake, was appointed in 1855; however, he worked as the museum’s keeper

beginning in the 1840s.25

In 1853, just two years after the Great Exhibition, concerns regarding

the physical conditions of the pieces and the environment of the museum building surfaced as

paintings began to deteriorate.26

Subsequently, Eastlake, as the museum’s chief representative,

called upon Michael Faraday for scientific consultation.27

This marks the first partnership

between an art institution and a scientist.

THE BEGINNING OF CONSERVATION SCIENCE

In 1853, Michael Faraday joined the Select Committee of the National Gallery in order to

contribute to the investigation of the cleanliness of the paintings.28

His work in popular science

and at the Great Exhibition demonstrated his willingness to contribute his technical work to

society. In the 1820s and 30s Faraday worked closely with the military and the navy and made

22

Jeffrey A. Auerbach, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display (Yale University Press, 1999), 1. 23

Auerbach, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display, 2. 24

“About the Building,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/about-the-building/ 25

“About the Building,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/about-the-building/ 26

Jilleen Nadolny, "The first century of published scientific analyses of the materials of historical painting and polychromy, circa 1780-1880," Reviews in Conservation (2003): 39-51. 27

Hamilton, Faraday: The Life, 375. 28

James Hamilton, Faraday: The Life. (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002), 375.

9

contributions to metallurgy.29

However, from the beginning of his career, he expressed interest in

art and painting. His first job, an errand boy under George Riebau who ran a book binding shop,

encouraged Faraday to read a variety of topics, including those related to art.30

He explored The

Repository of Arts and Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.31

In addition, Richard Cosway, a British

painter who regularly visited Riebau’s shop, interacted with Faraday. He also met with other

artists and scientists during this early employment.32

At the very least, these interactions exposed

Faraday to artistic context.

In his work on the Select Committee of the National Gallery, Faraday collaborated with

painter William Russell and conservator John Ruskin to determine the causes of dirt and

discoloration of the paintings.33

These individuals, all with different specialties, came together in

order to better conserve and preserve British paintings, pieces of British culture and national

heritage. The Committee determined that paintings decayed quickly for several reasons including

London’s sulfurous air, the volume of visitors, dirt from people’s shoes, residue from food and

drink, and contamination from ventilator pipes.34

Faraday analyzed the chemical composition of the paintings and their contaminants. He

determined that ammonia and sulfur vapors were the primary discoloration causes.35

Remedy

suggestions included air conditioning as a temperature control and enclosing paintings in glass.36

Most on the Committee rejected the idea of placing the artwork behind glass because it would

alter the museum-going experience. Instead, varnishes served as the primary protection

29


Hamilton, Faraday: The LifeI, 7. 31

Hamilton, Faraday: The LifeI, 8. 32


Norman Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery" Studies in Conservation 2, no. 4 (Oct 1956): 177. 34

Bromelle , "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 177. 35

Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 181. 36

Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 178.

10

technology. From his varnish experiments, Faraday claimed that a mastic varnish, a resin derived

from plants, would completely protect the paint and act as a barrier against hydrogen sulfide and

other fumes.37

In his work on the Committee and his discussions with Sir Charles Eastlake, the soon to

be Gallery director, Faraday expressed the view that “a person of competent chemical

knowledge, and a little acquainted also with the practice of painting in ancient and modern times

might be valuably employed” at a museum. 38

However, the National Gallery did not embrace the

employment of a full-time museum chemist until 1948, almost a century later.

In Germany, the approach was slightly different. Although Faraday was the first scientist

to advise a museum, there was a higher participation rate of German scientists in art museum

conservation, and, before the turn of the century, German museums began hiring full-time

scientists as members of museum staff. In 1863, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich asked Max von

Pettenkofer, Bavarian Professor of Medicine and Chemistry, to investigate its restoration

practices.39

Although Pettenkofer was not part of the museum staff, he acted as a regular

consultant at the Alte Pinakothek.

Pettenkofer invented a new technique for rejuvenating decayed varnish.40

He, like

Faraday, prided himself on working in multiple fields and believed that a cross-disciplinary

approach would contribute to social progress. As a result, he strived towards the application of

chemistry in “every possible field of human endeavor.”41

In his first occupation, he worked as an

37

Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 184. 38

Michael Faraday in Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery" 184. 39

Theodor Siegl, "Conservation," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 62, no. 291 (1966): 131. 40

Theodor Siegl, "Conservation," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 62, no. 291 (1966): 131. 41

Max von Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941), 2.

11

apprentice at the Royal Court Pharmacy and studied medicine.42

His interests spanned a wide

range of industries including dentistry and public health. 43

Pettenkofer believed that these

scientific applications, along with those in art restoration, “could be used as a measure of

civilization.”44

This philosophy formed the foundation for the museum-scientist relationship.

Following Pettenkofer’s museum work in Munich, the Royal Museum of Berlin decided

to hire a full time scientist to conserve and preserve its works.45

In 1888, the Museum hired

German chemist Dr. Friedrich Rathgen.46

Dr. Rathgen became the father of conservation

science47

and published The Preservation of Antiques: A Handbook for Curators in 1905.48

Rathgen stated that he hoped to “stimulate the Curators of State, Municipal and Societies’

Collections.”49

His handbook acted as a crossover guide. Its publication demonstrated that the art

world could, in fact, acquire massive gains with respect to preservation and conservation if it

embraced a scientific approach. He noted that “a certain amount of chemical knowledge is

assumed” but that the methods “may be readily carried out by those who are unfamiliar with

chemical methods.”50

Such statements suggest that, while the foundation of chemistry was

necessary in establishing conservation methods, the actual practice only required ability in

understanding procedure; an academic process with which art historians were familiar.

Rathgen’s publication was the first of a series of conservation science publications that

would soon penetrate the art world. However, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did

42

Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873, 2. 43



Barbara H. Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 11 (2000): 398. 46

Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," 398. 47

Mark Gilberg, "Friedrich Rathgen: The Father of Modern Archaelogical Conservation," Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 26, no. 2 (1987): 105-120. 48

Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," 398. 49

Friedrich Rathgen, The Preservation of Antiquities: A Handbook for Curators (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905), v. 50

Rathgen, The Preservation of Antiquities: A Handbook for Curators, vi.

12

not yet fully embrace the scientist as an art contributor. In Great Britain and the United States, art

historians expressed skepticism towards scientists, notably chemists, who dabbled in the material

analysis of paintings.

THE ART HISTORIAN VS. THE SCIENTIST

The delay in hiring full-time museum scientists largely stems from art history’s

institutional setting. More specifically, as an academic discipline, art history is based on the

evolution of academic traditions and frameworks which began with Giorgio Vesari’s Lives of the

Artists in the sixteenth century.51

The perspective of art historians relies on understanding the

evolution of a piece through the relationship between the artist, the work, and the socio-political

environment of the time of creation.52

Art historians also analyze the history of a work following

its creation which includes questions of where it was displayed, whether or not it was purchased,

and to what extent it received popular praise. Much of this investigation takes place within

museums and art societies. Art historians are also responsible for choosing the layout of works in

a museum and for displaying works of merit, ultimately voicing the universal opinion on art.53

Thus, resistance to hiring a full-time scientist and to establishing a museum science

department partly originates in art history’s culture. When John Ruskin worked with Michael

Faraday on the Select Committee of the National Gallery, he was particularly irritated that

Faraday delved into the art world with minimal traditional training in this academic discipline.

Ruskin claimed that Faraday’s scientific expertise would not translate into the world of museums

because he was not academically oriented toward art analysis.

51

Steve Edwards ed., Art and its Histories: A Reader (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 3. 52

Edwards, Art and its Histories: A Reader, 3. 53

Edwards, Art and its Histories: A Reader, 5.

13

Ruskin’s Modern Painters, his most famous work in which he defends British painter J.

M. W. Turner, sheds light upon his commitment to the academic study of art. He boasts “I have

now given ten years of my life to the single purpose of enabling myself to judge rightly of art,”54

his ultimate goal being “to ascertain, and be able to teach, the truth respecting art.”55

This quest

for “truth” is not unique to art research; it is universally sought after by academics. However,

Ruskin’s attachment to this discipline led to his frustration with those who had not devoted

extensive time to the field but spoke as though they were well versed in the subject. He stated

that “it is as ridiculous for anyone to speak positively about painting who has not given a great

part of his life to its study, as it would be for a person who had never studied chemistry to give a

lecture on affinities of elements.”56

His direct reference to chemistry suggests the tension

between the two fields and that he viewed the academic intensity associated with each as

separate but equal. His statements also indicate the exclusivity of art and science; that they are

not interdisciplinary and that the skill sets involved in each study are not transferable. Ruskin

staunchly opposed incorporating scientific opinion into the art world. However, he failed to

recognize the benefits of scientific application.

In 1927, James Greig, an American art critic, expressed concerns similar to those of

Ruskin. He recounted the problems involved in a chemical analysis of artwork in the absence of

an art expert. After observing a piece, he noticed that “on the body of the Virgin were splashes of

crude colour wholly different in handling, age and harmony from that of the original painting.

That was absolutely apparent.”57

However, what was “absolutely apparent” to Greig was

overlooked by the accompanying chemist who noted that the paints were “applied at the same

54

John Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3 (New York: John Wiley, 1863), vi. 55

Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3, vi. 56

Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3, vii. 57

James Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 51, no. 293 (1927): 102.

14

period.”58

According to Greig, the chemist was not versed in the anatomy of art and asked Greig,

as an art expert, to “assist me in my work of detection.”59

Greig refused to assist the chemist.

This account took place before American scientists and art experts were working together in an

interdisciplinary environment.

In the 1920s and 30s, art critics and art historians began writing pieces which

demonstrated that scientific thought processes and practices were not so different from those of

the art historian. William M. Ivins, Jr. of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote that the

scientist, similar to the art historian, must consider facts when formulating a hypothesis, and that

“a fact unknown or overlooked can destroy the labor of a lifetime.”60

He further noted that a

scientist must first assess that which exists in the “concrete” before reaching conclusions.

Mirroring this procedure, Ivins analyzed an Impressionist piece by Édouard Manet. Based on the

body of works he had critiqued, he asserted that Manet imitated “the three figures in the lower

right-hand corner of Marc Antonio’s Judgment of Paris.”61

In 1927, questions regarding the

authenticity of a series of Dutch paintings on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

surfaced. Art critics and scientists, working separately, began investigating these claims. Art

historians rely on precedents. They know hundreds upon thousands of artists, their works, their

styles, and their stories. These are their facts and their evidence. They conduct research, they

investigate, they form hypotheses, and they come to conclusions. This procedure takes place in

many higher level academic disciplines.

While the specific skill set and context are considered distinct, the actual sequence of

research and investigation spans across subjects that rely on understanding and applying theory.

58

Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," 102. 59

Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," 102. 60

Ivins, "Italian Renaissance Prints," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 18, no. 6 (1923): 150. 61

Ivins, "Italian Renaissance Prints," 150.

15

Arthur Pillans Laurie, chemistry professor and member of the Royal Academy of the Arts in

London analyzed the approach of each discipline. He noted that an art critic who uses his

knowledge of pictures “may tell us that he is satisfied as to the authenticity of a picture because

of its merits as a work of genius and because of its revealing the special style and methods of the

artist.”62

According to Laurie, this approach, while widely accepted, can be erroneous. He

suggested that a chemical examination of the painting can lead to alternate conclusions and that

in a recent case “an X-ray photograph” revealed that the pigment of the paint and the

construction of the canvas was actually much more modern and created in an entirely different

period from what the art critic assumed.63

When the chemist is not involved, a surface conclusion

based on “style and manner of painting” are the primary “facts.”

Laurie heavily supported the scientist’s participation in art examination with the help of

the art historian. In fact, while the chemist can accurately determine forged signatures and

pigment dating, he cannot “decide whether the picture is by a master or by one of his pupils.”64

Thus, he requires the wealth of knowledge from the art historian. Furthermore, Laurie stated that

the art historian would be “foolish to dabble in an amateur way with scientific methods of

identification.”65

Both examination approaches, artistic and scientific, demand extensive training.

The collaboration of the two fields can result in insightful conclusions when each party pledges

to contribute. However, some art historians continued to resist scientific association.

The two fields did not mutually appreciate each other until the museum laboratory was

established in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions. The laboratory, a formal

scientific conservation department, was deemed necessary by the museum board, its trustees,

62

A. P. Laurie, A. L. Nicholson, and Hugh Blaker, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 50, no. 291 (1927): 342. 63

Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 342. 64

Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 342. 65

Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 343.

16

and, most importantly, the government, as a means of preserving a nation’s most prized cultural

items. Where the objective of a museum is to strive to conserve, preserve, and display art, the

museum laboratory became necessary in realizing all three of these goals, especially in the years

following World War I.

POST WWI MUSEUM LABORATORIES

In 1932, The Burlington Magazine declared that the examination of masterpieces should

be “entrusted to a fully equipped and highly trained art scientist” who would provide additional

data for the so-called “orthodox art expert.”66

The Magazine also indicated that, with respect to

photographing and examining artwork, the scientist would communicate “whether X-ray or ultra-

violet ray examination is advisable.”67

This declaration not only illustrated acceptance of

scientific application but also that these applications would become necessary in art analysis. The

popular declaration demonstrated a cultural shift in art history. However, this change in spirit

was not a product of the art world. Instead, it arose as a post-war mentality. The international

chaos of the Great War, or World War I, created a foundation in modern scientific application.

Art museums experienced this political atmosphere during and after the war. It was this

atmosphere that mandated the creation of museum laboratories.

During WWI, American and British museums moved art into storage facilities in order to

ensure the pieces would not be damaged within the museum building.68

Museum staff and

government entities increasingly viewed museums as representations of national power and

cultural history. As a result, they feared that these buildings would become cultural war targets.

66

“Scientific Examination of Old Masters,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 60 (May 1932): 261. 67

“Scientific Examination of Old Masters,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 60 (May 1932): 261. 68

“The Gallery in Wartime,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/the-gallery-in-wartime/

17

When the war ended and paintings and sculptures could return to their original sites, paintings

were noticeably different. Storage facilities did not have proper temperature controls and,

according to Faraday’s 1853 survey of the National Gallery, humidity affected pigments,

canvases, and the rate of deterioration. In response to the damage, museums required in-house

scientific consultations and often needed to bring works to formal laboratories.69

In 1919, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in London asked Dr.

Alexander Scott, former President of the Chemical Society, to investigate the conditions of

British Museum antiques that were stored in London’s underground transportation system during

the war.70

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research emerged as a government

funded institution at the start of the war. The wartime advisory committee championed its

foundation following the creation of the National Physical Laboratory which was established at

the turn of the century.71

The Department was meant to investigate and participate in civil service

activities while partnering with university science departments. 72

During the war, the fear that national relics might have undergone significant damage

warranted government intervention. The existence of the Department of Scientific and Industrial

Research as a body oriented towards civil service made this form of museum government

intervention plausible. In 1920, following Dr. Scott’s assessment of the antiques, a building

separate from the British Museum’s physical site accommodated the British Museum

Laboratory.73

A group of scientists investigated damaged antiques and restoration methods and

69

A. E. Werner and R. M. Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," Sudies in Conservation 7, no. 3 (1962): 75. 70

Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75. 71

Frank M. Turner, "Public Science in Britain, 1880-1919," Isis 71, no. 4 (1980): 607. 72

Turner, "Public Science in Britain, 1880-1919," 607. 73

Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75.

18

brought many pieces back to display-worthy conditions.74

The Laboratory gained additional

funding, moved into a larger building, and eventually became a permanent feature of the British

Museum. The collaborative effort involved in establishing the Museum Laboratory meant that

other government departments and British cultural centers would regularly utilize the facility as

an advanced civil service resource.

Across the Atlantic, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) was the first American

museum to approve a laboratory. The MFA founded the laboratory in 1930 to contribute to the

museum’s overall mission of “collecting, exhibiting, preserving, and interpreting” artwork.75

Divided into four departments, conservation, preparation, examination, and research, the

laboratory prioritized based on the demand of the collection and environmental conditions.

During its first decade of operation, the laboratory focused on conservation, a necessary measure

following WWI.76

However, the research department also began to delve into art examination

beyond deterioration. Military developments in photography made this new realm of art

examination possible. Subsequent commercial availability of these war technologies meant that

such tools would eventually become permanent fixtures in museum laboratories.

During the war, research and development in camera lenses, chemical filters, and the

electromagnetic spectrum created new expectations with respect to light, visibility, penetration,

and attention to detail. The mobilization of photography research laboratories and the associated

increase in funding indicated that the military required efficient and effective photographic tools.

Charles Edward Kenneth Mees, the first director of Kodak Research Laboratories, noted that

before this military application, photography satisfied the artistic aspirations for those who “did

74


Diggory Venn, "The Hidden Museum: An Account of the Services of the Staff of the Museum of Fine Arts," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 62 , no. 327 (1964): 5. 76

Venn, "The Hidden Museum: An Account of the Services of the Staff of the Museum of Fine Arts," 5.

19

not possess artistic talent.”77

It was not until the 1930s, when new developments in photography

became commercially available at lower costs, that military and scientific techniques would enter

the art world and find a home in museum laboratories.

WORLD WAR I AND THE RISE OF INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

In 1727, a German physician experimenting with chemical compounds and sun exposure

developed the camera obscura, first instrument used for image capturing.78

During the second

half of the eighteenth century, chemistry was the primary science associated with image

capturing.79

However, World War I primarily utilized infrared photography which originated in

astronomy, not chemistry. This astronomical discovery ushered in a new age of military strategy

based on photography. It established a tactical advantage in image clarity and visibility.

Infrared is different from ultraviolet rays or X-rays because it penetrates certain

materials, making them transparent in photographs. The wavelengths are longer than ultraviolet

rays or X-rays, also invisible to the human eye and are longer than the wavelengths in the visible

light spectrum.80

Infrared radiation breaks down into five categories: near infrared, short

wavelength infrared, mid wavelength infrared, long wavelength infrared, and far infrared which

range from shortest to longest wavelength, respectively.81

When applied to cameras, telescopes,

and microscopes, infrared filters can see through natural and synthetic organic surfaces.

Transparent natural organic products include gelatin, cellulose, chitin, all of which are animal

proteins and are active ingredients in some painting varnishes. Rubber, shellac, resins, ebonite,

77

C. E. Kenneth Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research (Rochester, New York: Eastman Kodak Company, 1961), 1. 78

Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 2. 79

Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 2. 80

Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 13. 81

Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 13.

20

wood, and some inks are also transparent under infrared.82

One noteworthy material

impenetrable to infrared light is carbon black, an ink commonly used by artists to create

drawings and sketches before applying paint to canvas.83

Understanding the crossover of infrared technology into the military world and later into

the art world requires an analysis of the evolution of infrared’s discovery and application.

Infrared wavelengths were discovered accidentally in 1800 by Sir William Herschel,84

but the

radiation was not used in photography until 1880.85

During a solar observation session, Herschel

noticed that his glasses and telescope became warm when he observed red portions of the solar

spectrum, the longest wavelengths of visible light.86

As a result, Herschel concluded that the

spectrum extended beyond the visible spectrum and shifted to invisible heat.87

Infrared light underwent over half a century of investigation before practical application.

In 1814, Joseph von Fraunhofer discovered absorption lines, now known as Fraunhofer lines, in

the sun’s spectrum and revealed that the visible spectrum could be disrupted by reflection.88

Around the same period, Sir John Herschel, William Herschel’s son, began experimenting with

photography and red rays which would later be called photochemistry. He discovered that the

82

Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 361. 83


Herschel, like other astronomers and scientists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, explored disciplines outside scientific academia. He was deeply involved in music and worked as a composer. In fact, his interest in wavelengths originated in his aspiration to understand the sounds of musical instruments. See Sime, Herschel and his Work, 155-7. 85

James Sime, Herschel and his Work (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 155-7. 86

William Herschel, “Experiments on the Solar, and on the Terrestrial Rays that Occasion Heat: With a Comparative View of the Laws to Which Light and Heat, or Rather the Rays Which Occasion Them, are Subject, in Order to Determine Whether they are the Same, or Different. Part II,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1800): 437-538. 87

E. Scott Barr, "The Infrared Pioneers--I. Sir William Herschel," Infrared Physics 1, (1961): 1-4. 88

H. W. Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone (New York: The Chemical Publishing Company, 1941), 14.

21

rays could reduce or reverse a printout image onto a silver chloride paper which was coined as

the Herschel effect.89

Infrared’s ultimate application in the art world did not occur until after its application as a

military technology. This delay was not solely the result of limited commercial availability.

Beginning in the 1850s with Faraday’s participation in the Select Committee for the National

Gallery, museums understood that they had a stake in scientific developments. However, the

application of these developments and a scientist’s willingness to apply them relies on his

fundamental understanding of a specific discovery and its features. Thus, the delay in military

and eventually art utilization of infrared radiation from the time of discovery was a consequence

of the time lag involved in understanding potential non-astronomical infrared applications.

The first intentional utilization of infrared in photography occurred in the late 1870s

when Captain William Abney photographed up to 10,000 Å90

wavelength and published a map

of the infrared region of the solar spectrum ranging from 7,160 Å to 10,000 Å. Abney presented

elements of his research to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1880. The president of the society

praised Captain Abney, stating that “the subject brought to our notice by Captain Abney is one of

extreme importance because at the present day we know the great value of recording the lines of

the solar spectrum and the bright lines of the elements.”91

The importance the president was

referring to was that of visualizing the invisible spectrum.

In addition, Abney’s application marked the first color mapping, a system in which colors

could be identified with numbers.92

In the second half of the twentieth century the color-number

89


Å stands for angstrom and is a unit of length associated with 10-10

meters. 91

“Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” Astronomical register 14 (1876): 85-6. 92

Ivars Peterson, "Paint by Digit," Science News 122, no. 20 (1982) : 314-315.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85




22

system would revolutionize art digitization and analysis.93

In labeling the colors, Abney stated

that “the indigo as 15, the green might be put down as 10, the yellow as 5, and A as 1.”94

This

number system corresponded with minutes of exposure and allowed for further investigation of

chemical elements. The president of the Royal Astronomical Society also expressed excitement,

stating that “I can hardly speak too strongly of the importance of this discovery in connection

with the great advance…in spectroscopy.95

”96

In 1912, R. W. Wood, Johns Hopkins University

Physics Professor, was the first to take infrared photographs of the Moon. 97

In 1916 he applied

the same method of photography to Jupiter and Saturn.98

1912 was also the year Kodak Research

Laboratories was founded in Rochester, New York under Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees.

In addition to astronomical infrared photography, the 1880s also saw a rise in the

manufacturing of photographic materials.99

Wratten & Wainwright, one of the first companies to

produce these materials, was founded in 1877 in London. In 1880, the same year Captain Abney

presented his spectral map, George Eastman founded the Kodak Company on the basis of selling

gelatin plates to professional photographers in Rochester. The two companies would merge in

1912 when Mr. Eastman bought Wratten & Wainwright and appointed Dr. Mees, a former

Wratten director, to act as the head of Kodak Research Laboratories.

93

Andrea Casini, Franco Lotti, Marcello Picollo, Lorenzo Stefani, and Ezio Buzzegoli, "Image Spectroscopy Mapping Technique for Non-Invasive Analysis of Paintings," Studies in Conservation 44, no. 1 (1999): 39-48. 94

“Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” 86. 95

Spectroscopy, the mapping of the electromagnetic spectrum, would become extremely important in art applications of infrared. 96

“Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” 87. 97

W. H. Wright, "Photographs of Mars Made with Light of Different Colors," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 36, no. 213 (1924): 240. 98

W. H. Wright, "Photographs of Mars Made with Light of Different Colors," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 36, no. 213 (1924): 240. 99

Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 12.

23

Dr. Mees led the Eastman Kodak Company to produce improved plates for spectroscopic

and astronomical work.100

Traditionally trained chemists focused on enhancing sensitivity and

speed in photographic plate development, both considered to be a photographer’s primary

concerns. Dr. Mees declared that Kodak would “be in a position not only to make its own

materials for investigation but to make experimental materials on a comparatively large scale.”101

From a military perspective, this foundation of scale was vital, especially in a field that would

contribute to the war effort.

In its first decade, Kodak Research Laboratories focused research in its physics

department. The experiments dealt with photometry, sensitometry, or the study of plate

sensitivity to light, spectroscopy, and colorimetry, all fields that relate to the eye’s sensitivity to

color and the accuracy of color and material reproduction.102

The department initially used

visible light and ultraviolet spectroscopes. X-ray technologies were the next form of invisible

light filtration to be introduced into the Kodak Research Laboratories.103

Infrared spectroscopy

was still undeveloped in photography’s manufacturing industry. However, government

involvement in the industry would generate its introduction into the commercial market.

The leading physicists at Kodak’s lab were former members of the National Bureau of

Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST is an

agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is “to promote U.S.

innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and

technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”104

In April

1917, Kodak Research Laboratories also committed to this mission as the United States declared

100

Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 44. 101




“NIST General Information,” http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/general_information.cfm

24

war on Germany.105

The National Defense Council, the Science and Research Department of the

Army, and the Bureau of Aircraft Production partnered with Eastman Kodak to maximize the

value of photography during the war effort.106

Physicists from the Laboratories were asked to

provide information and training sessions in aerial photography, and between 1917 and 1918,

Kodak devoted the majority of its time and resources to these military concerns.107

These efforts harnessed the same methods of Dr. Wood and other astrophysicists,

methods used to analyze the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn between 1912 and 1916. Scholars from

the period noted that “photographic methods were employed in the recent war to an extent never

known before in military history.”108

The “methods” involved infrared aerial photography and

provided critical visual information from various strategic viewpoints. Eastman Kodak

Company offered non-commercial color-sensitive plates for the military’s scientific investigation

in photography. The company manufactured and distributed emulsions still under

experimentation specifically for war work.109

Similarly, the Cramer Dry Plate Company, another

photography institute, produced infrared plates as a special military product. 110

During the war,

the Science and Research Division of the Bureau of Aircraft Production handled the

manufacturing of photosensitizing dyes which could be applied to photographic plates in order

filter colors and materials of a given image.111

The government “under the stress of a great emergency, acknowledged its [infrared

photography’s] value and supplied it with funds as never before.”112

The infrared military

105




Paul W. Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 32, no. 185 (1920): 17. 109

Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 19. 110



Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 16.

25

“value” was its ability to penetrate atmospheric haze and short wavelength reflections. In doing

so, infrared photographs not only took clearer images that were less distorted, but also allowed

for higher quality distance photography. Such advances were necessary in the context of aerial

photography as a military strategy. Infrared film would provide critical knowledge in locating

military units through the haze and identifying individuals wearing camouflage.113

Immediately following World War I, the investigation of sensitizing agents in order to

improve resolution and detail in infrared photography came to the forefront of physics and

astronomy. In 1920, Paul W. Merrill, a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

published a piece entitled “Progress in Photography Resulting from the War.” He noted that

military authorities allowed for “the publication of a great deal of material of general interest”114

which sparked scientific, medical, and eventually art applications. In 1922, chemists applied

infra-red spectroscopy extensively in their study of molecular structures and organic

substances.115

It was also used to discover new stars and to determine temperatures of cooler

stars. Stars which were not detectable through the popular telescopes of the time were likely

obscured by atmospheric haze and nebular haze. In addition, infrared photography contributed to

understanding planetary atmospheres. In the 1920s, Mars was under specific examination

because of questions related to whether or not life existed on the planet. Astronomers, physicists,

and chemists determined that Mars lacked the oxygen required to support life, squashing

hypotheses and fears that there were living beings in outer space.116

Examining Venus under

infrared drew the same conclusions and revealed that the planet was extremely rich in carbon

113

Walter Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1939), 262. 114




26

dioxide.117

Observing Jupiter and Saturn with the filter indicated their composition primarily of

ammonia and methane. These atmospheric observations illustrate that astronomers were not only

collecting data but also answering larger questions about the universe.

In 1924, the Lick Observatory took photographs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and

other mountain ranges with infrared photography and revealed clarity that had never before been

seen.118

In 1927, H. M. Randall from the University of Michigan’s Department of Physics

published “Infrared Spectroscopy” and noted that information from the infrared spectra is “not

only worthy of our endeavor but necessary for the development of the theories of band spectra

and the related problems of molecular structure.”119

In 1928, Eastman Kodak released

Panchromatic K, the first infrared negative film.120

Panchromatic plates, as advertised by the

Wratten division of Eastman Kodak, were supposed to supply “a far more truthful photograph”

with respect to color perception.121

Thus, infrared technology not only remedied problems

associated with image clarity but also enhanced knowledge of the universe and the physical

environment. Understanding and publicizing these valuable features of infrared radiation would

broaden its post-war application.

COMMERCIAL INFRARED

In 1930, Kodak declared infrared as modern photography, and in 1931, infrared plates

were placed on the commercial market by Eastman Kodak in the United States, by Ilford Limited

in Great Britain, and by Agfa in Germany.122

In 1933, Olaf F. Bloch, President of the Royal

117


H. M. Randall, "Infra-red Spectroscopy." Science 65, no. 1677 (Feb. 18, 1927): 173. 119

H. M. Randall, "Infra-red Spectroscopy." Science 65, no. 1677 (Feb. 18, 1927): 173. 120

“Material Name: infrared film,” BFA (see notes) 121

“Wratten Panchromatic Plates,” Kodak Limited (Wratten Division), Kingsway, London (1918). 122


27

Photographic Society and scientist at Ilford Laboratories, published “Recent Developments in

Infrared Photography” in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. After summarizing the

discovery and history of infrared photography, he enthusiastically stated that “two new infra-red

sensitizers have been synthesized by Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory.”123

At the same time,

Bloch’s Ilford Research Laboratories, in Essex, had also released a new dye which enabled

higher speed infrared photography and cleaner processing.

However, infrared’s characteristics were not always accurately interpreted. Even after

over a century of research and investigation, “haze penetration” was not a universal term; it

meant something very different for aerial photographers than it did for photographers at sea.

Seamen wrongly believed that infrared photography could penetrate fog which is much thicker

and denser than atmospheric haze. 124

They thought that is would be revolutionary in navigation

as captains and crew members would know exactly what was ahead of them in the waters.

Nonetheless, this proved to be false, and infrared application was much better suited for aerial

photography and long distance landscape photography. 125

Infrared’s ability to cut out all ultraviolet light which often causes haze in photographs

was one of its most attractive and most valuable features in long distance and aerial

photography.126

Images were clearer and more detailed because the atmospheric dust and haze

did not interfere with the infrared spectrum. After WWI, Captain A.W. Stevens took photographs

from an elevation of 23,000 feet, the first photographs of their kind. He observed mountains,

streams, lakes, and people with higher contrast.127

The U.S. Army Air Corps used Stevens’

123

Olaf F. Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 81, no. 4185 (Feb. 3, 1933): 264. 124





28

images as a means of enhancing knowledge of the composition of the ground and in

supplementing maps which were old, outdated, or lacked proper information.128

Thus, even with

its commercial availability, the military continued to use the technology as a means of enhancing

knowledge about environmental terrain.

In his state of enthusiasm, Bloch lists the various fields that could benefit from the new

infrared based on its absorptive and transmissive properties. He explicitly highlights document

analysis in that infrared would enhance the “method of procedure dealing with erasures, blacking

out, over-writing and supposed forgeries.”129

Although paintings were not mentioned in this

initial survey of potential infrared applications, the mention of overwriting and forgeries in

document investigation signaled potential in art investigation.

Bloch additionally emphasized infrared use in portraiture, noting that infrared portraits

are “far from flattering” because they reveal underlying hair and human features that most

individuals prefer to conceal.130

However, the method could be used in medicine as a means of

penetrating scabs, viewing skin treatment progress, and detecting skin infections. It was also

used to observe superficial veins. In ophthalmology, infrared photography was applied in order

to examine the iris of eyes which had turned opaque.131

Along with these new applications, the

more established methods in astronomy and aerial photography all indicate that the medium

“makes hitherto invisible things visible.”132

Thus, infrared employment could now go beyond the military and academic spheres of

astronomy and physics. Eastman Kodak provided the largest number and variety of infrared

materials in the United States and put out several publications informing the “amateur” on its

128


Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," 271. 130

Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," 271. 131


“Iodine: Mystery Story,” Journal of the Royal Society of the Arts 94, no. 4717 (May 10, 1946): iii.

29

applications. The Chemical Publishing Company published one such handbook entitled Infrared

for Everyone. H. W. Greenwood, the author, stated that “infra-red is a scientific tool which the

amateur can use with success” as long as he is well versed in its proper application.133

He noted

that “its greatest sphere of usefulness is in differentiating objects which appear alike to the

human eye,”134

a critical differentiation in art investigation.

While infrared photography publications by Eastman Kodak Company hinted at possible

art applications, the infrastructure of a museum laboratory was a primary requirement. As a

result, the widespread museum mobilization of infrared photography, spectroscopy, and

reflectography required, first and foremost, an established museum science department. Under

the precedent of infrastructure, infrared allowed for discovery below the surface, a feature valued

by professionals in disciplines ranging from the military to medicine and from astronomy to art.

INFRARED APPLIED TO ART

In 1939, Walter Clark published Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and

Applications with Kodak Research Laboratories. He stated that “the photography will be able to

apply the subject intelligently to the varied problems which present themselves.”135

Clark’s

didactic tone in his broad and grandiose overview of infrared and its origins, similar to that of

Olaf F. Bloch, once again indicated the importance of the technology. His work opened with “in

all stages of civilization man has recognized the benefits of light and heat.”136

He continued to

emphasize the importance of the foundation of science in understanding the properties of light

133

Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone , 40. 134


Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, ix. 136

Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 1.

30

and that such knowledge is necessary and essential in “our interest to its close relative, the

infrared.”137

In 1941, ten years after infrared photography materials became commercially available,

literature surfaced suggesting that infrared photography be used in photographing artwork.138

An

understanding of the chemical composition of varnishes which were often discolored and dirty

revealed that infrared photography could penetrate the material and provide insight into the

original work.139

An infrared guide from the period stated that “in general, oils, varnishes, gums

and waxes are transparent to infra-red” and suggested applying this technology to “old pictures,

antiques” and other historical items. Thus, the MFA, the British Museum, and other museum

laboratories established new areas of focus in research, examination, and detailed analysis of

paintings with infrared radiation.

Kodak’s infrared promotion also consisted of paint classification according to pigment

reactions to infrared light. This assessment divided paints into three categories based on their

appearance under infrared radiation. Specifically, water and oil-based paints can appear black,

grey, or white when exposed to infra-red photography. Colors that photograph as black include

blues and blacks which contain carbon black, iron, bronze, or ivory. Those which photograph as

grey are greens, browns, and light red iron oxides. Paints of white photographic appearance are

most commonly yellows and blues other than iron blues but also include all colors not listed in

the previous two sections.140

Infrared’s ability to clearly categorize paints according to their color and chemical

composition marks its importance in the art world. The 1941 infrared handbook noted that

137





31

“[t]here are few great galleries today which do not include equipment for infra-red

photography”.141

Infrared photography became pivotal in analyzing old masterpieces and

historical works which had been damaged or were covered in thick layers of varnish. Art

historians and conservators appreciated the technology largely because it allowed for observation

and investigation without physically touching the subject of interest. 142

Investigating a painting’s

authenticity and understanding the condition of the paintwork under the varnish are extremely

valuable in interpreting an artist’s creation process and the context in which he worked. Infrared

had the capacity to detect “forgeries and sophistications in supposed old masters.”143

It would

also reveal underlying sketches, additions to the painting, and possible damages and changes in

the painting.

Infrared photography was most widely applied to old paintings because in modern

paintings, the clarity of varnish lends most investigation to the human eye. Its concurrent use

with X-rays, microscopy, and micro-chemical analysis further enhanced the understanding of old

paintings and their artists. The 1940s recognized infrared as “a new and potent weapon to the

armoury of the art expert.”144

This active scientific integration demonstrated the art world’s

collective acknowledgement of the potential for scientific contributions. A gallery was only great

when it knew how to apply scientific techniques. However, its widespread use in museum

laboratories did not take place until after World War II which corresponded with a significant

political shift in astronomy: the rise of National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), Jet

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other national and international space organizations.

141





32

Subsequently, the post World War II museum period marks a second wave in the rise of the

museum laboratory and a new era of international astronomy.

JPL, NASA, AND POST WORLD WAR II MUSEUM LABORATORIES

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began as the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory,

California Institute of Technology (GALCIT) in 1936.145

Immediately following World War II, it

was renamed Jet Propulsion Laboratory and partnered with the Amy Ordinance Corps to

research missile technology.146

In 1945, the United States launched Operation Paperclip, a

project dedicated to recruiting German engineers, collecting parts of V-2 rockets, and

understanding the German mechanisms underlying rocket guidance and navigation.147

Before

1945, American space research took place at the Naval Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins’s

Applied Physics Laboratory, General Electric, Harvard University, Princeton University,

University of Michigan, and the Signal Corp.148

In the years following this second war, the United States took a different approach by

establishing a single administrative body solely devoted to aeronautics and space. Although

President Woodrow Wilson formally created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

(NACA) in 1915 as a World War I emergency measure,149

the Committee did not begin

experimenting with rockets and working with JPL until 1946.150

In 1958, President Dwight D.

145

Clayton R. Koppes, JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 2-3. 146

Koppes, JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2-3. 147

Roger E. Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990 (Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1989), 36. 148

Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons, 2. 149

Roger E. Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990 (Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1989), 4. 150

Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990, 38-9.

33

Eisenhower renamed the Committee the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and

restructured it in order to better serve the objectives associated with the looming Space Race.151

The founding of NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory indicated that the government prioritized

the space program in funding and technological advances. The United States’ international

reputation relied on its ability to explore space, a region not yet claimed or occupied by any

nation.

Concurrently with the rise of NASA, museum laboratories increased in number, size and

scientific capacity following World War II and during the Cold War. These newer and bigger

labs surfaced internationally and were often government funded. Now that museums embraced a

foundation of science in preservation and conservation, this second wave of museum laboratories

began with efforts to protect national and international cultural heritage and expanded towards

further understanding this heritage.

During World War II, in the same spirit as World War I, museums put their collections in

storage hoping to save valuable pieces from destruction. The period was characterized by

national and international fear that states and their history would be destroyed. When the war

ended and collections were removed from storage, scientific advising for proper restoration

methods would once again ensure that pieces were cared for and displayed in a protected

environment. In 1959, the journal Studies in Conservation launched an eight-part series entitled

“Conservation Studios and Laboratories” in order to celebrate this second wave and increase

museum laboratory awareness in the art world. The final piece was published in 1967.152

The

series highlighted the evolution of eight museum laboratories, most of which were founded in

151

Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990, 47-8. 152

Rolf E. Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8: The Laboratory and the Courses of Study for Conservators at the Institut für Technologie der Malerei, Stuttgart," Studies in Conservation 12, no. 4 (Nov. 1967) : 147-157.

34

1945, immediately following the end of World War II. Studies in Conservation also included the

British Museum’s renovated laboratory nearly fifty years after its founding as the world’s first

museum laboratory. The British Museum’s new laboratory employed a core staff of seven

working scientists but also worked with individuals outside of the museum organization.153

In 1960, William Bousted published his piece in the series on the New South Wales Art

Gallery in Australia. The laboratory focused heavily on conservation techniques because of its

humid environment, lack of air conditioning units, and the treatment of works during the war.

The laboratory’s opening came as the result of the Japanese invasion during World War II.

Bousted noted that the “panic” involved in storing these paintings meant that many were “ripped

from their frames and piled cheek by jowl ready for instant dispatch to some remote sanctuary in

the Australian bush.”154

While these actions saved the paintings from the political threats of the

war, the resulting damage meant that conservation efforts were not only important but necessary

in restoring and displaying the works. The laboratory was centrally located in the New South

Wales Art Gallery, most likely for easy transport of paintings from display rooms to examination

tables. The photomicrography department utilized infrared and ultraviolet photography.155

Paintings were also studied in the government Health Department, further demonstrating that

conservation efforts and examination were not isolated in the museum laboratory.156

In 1945, the Swiss National Museum acted as “a nucleus for a central laboratory which

would consider the needs of other museums.”157

The museum hired a laboratory assistant in

153


William Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," Studies in Conservation 5, 4 (Nov. 1960): 121. 155

Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," 129. 156

Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," 130. 157

Bruno Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," Studies in Conservation 7, no. 2 (May 1962): 38.

35

order to move conservation “towards a solid scientific base” while serving the larger cultural

heritage community.158

The laboratory, headed by a chemist from the Faculty of Science of the

Federal Institute of Technology, made radio carbon dating and infrared spectroscopy accessible

to other European museums, most notably those in Germany and Italy.159

The Conservation

Laboratory of the National Museum in New Delhi, India, also featured in the series, was founded

on similar grounds. The devices in this museum were similar to those in the Swiss National

Museum and included microscopes, photo-analysis tools, and chemical examination tables and

scales.160

The museum felt that the conservation in the National Museum required a scientific

foundation and hired a chemist to lead the Laboratory in 1957.161

At the Institut fur Technologie der Malerei in Stuttgart, Germany, the laboratory’s

mission was reframed in 1949. Its physics laboratory housed some of the most advanced

examination tools which included but were not limited to an X-ray apparatus, an Infrared

viewing screen, ultraviolet and infrared photography, and a Xenon lamp for colorimetry.162

As an

independent research institution, the laboratory was not attached to a specific museum, but its

investigations on artistic materials and conservation would benefit German art museums.163

The

lab focused on the examination of important paintings, including those of Dutch artist

Rembrandt.164

The laboratory also emphasized a teaching program for picture restoration.165

158

Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," 35. 159

Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," 42. 160

O. P. Agrawal, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 7: The Conservation Laboratory of the National Museum , New Delhi," Studies in Conservation 8, no. 3 (Aug. 1963): 99-105. 161

Agrawal, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 7: The Conservation Laboratory of the National Museum , New Delhi," 99-105. 162

Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 148. 163

Rolf E. Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8: The Laboratory and the Courses of Study for Conservators at the Institut für Technologie der Malerei, Stuttgart," Studies in Conservation 12 , no. 4 (Nov. 1967): 147. 164

Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 147.

36

In the same Studies in Conservation series, Selim Augusti highlighted the Museo e

Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy as “one of the most up-to-date museums in

the world.”166

Augusti’s laboratory opened in 1957 and was divided into three departments:

restoration, scientific analysis, and photographic recording and examination. The “Scientific

Laboratory” was further divided into physico-chemical research, microscopy, and technical

work.167

The museum was heavily equipped with monocular and binocular microscopes, usually

used in the examination of painting and artifact cracking. The lab also utilized the “microscopio

universale Galileo” for general observation of details.168

Work in the technical laboratory

consisted of varnish preparation, work that is now particularly important for the coating and

protection of newly restored or acquired paintings. What made the laboratory exceptionally “up-

to-date” was its “equipment for examination by special radiation” which consisted of an infrared

lamp, an ultraviolet lamp, and an X-ray apparatus.169

The Freer Gallery was the only American museum laboratory covered in the series. It is

part of the Smithsonian Institution and partners with other institutes in Washington, D.C.

Museum director Archibald G. Wenley championed the creation of the Freer Gallery Laboratory

for Technical Studies in Oriental Art and Archaeology immediately following the war and began

publishing technical findings in 1952.170

According to the laboratory’s floor plan, primary modes

of light examination involved ultra-violet and X-ray technology. The photomicrographic camera

employed infrared technology and maintained a record of each work. The laboratory also lent its

165

Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 148 . 166

Selim Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1: The Conservation Laboratory of the Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples." Studies in Conservation 4, no. 3 (Aug. 1959): 88. 167

Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1,” 93. 168



Rutherford J. Gettens, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 2: The Freer Gallery Laboratory for Technical Studies in Oriental Art and Archaeology," Studies in Conservation 4, no. 4 (Nov. 1959): 140.

37

services to the National Bureau of Standards, the Division of Mineralogy of the U.S. National

Museum, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Food and Drug Administration.171

The cross-

employment of research tools and methods indicates national cooperation and that research and

investigation, with respect to materials, is interdisciplinary.

These museum laboratories illustrate that conservation and research overlap with national

and international efforts of maintaining society’s prized possessions, a commitment that expands

beyond the walls of a museum. All of these institutions prioritized, first and foremost, a

conservation foundation before implementing new investigative tools. When radiation equipment

was introduced in the late 1950s, the technology was not reserved solely for museum use. In fact,

the high cost associated with these tools meant that they were partially owned by the

government, as indicated in the case of the Freer Gallery laboratory. This state involvement and

technological expansion meant that the museum scientist now had the resources to explore

analysis beyond the preservation of paint and canvas.

Subsequently, conservators became well versed in applying chemical conservation

techniques. Chemists who formerly investigated the environmental factors that could damage

paintings and employed restoration methods were now replaced with these conservators. Where

chemistry became a fully integrated museum discipline, physics and radiation technologies were

still reserved for traditionally trained physicists. Thus, the overall goals of scientist involvement

in museums grew to include art analysis through radiation which was not associated with

conservation or preservation.172

Instead, this analysis was more geared toward further

contextualizing paintings for the art historian. They refocused their energies and began to assist

171

Gettens, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 2,” 142. 172

James R. Druzik, David L. Glackin, Donald L. Lynn, and Raim Quiros, "The Use of Digital Image Processing to Clarify the Radiography of Underpainting," Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 22, no. 1 (1982): 49-56.

38

art historians in interpreting the artist’s story, the presence of underdrawings, and potential

forgeries.

SCIENTISTS, TECHNOLOGIES, AND ART ANALYSIS

In 1963, two Eastman Kodak sales employees published a work on the progress of

infrared luminescence in the Studies in Conservation, the same journal that published the series

on museum laboratories. The authors advertised that “the most valuable applications of infrared

luminescence photography could well be in the examination of paintings under a thick varnish”

which could not be done with ultraviolet radiation.173

Although physicists and astronomers were

fully aware of this application, art historians were not yet versed in infrared. Thus, the Studies in

Conservation article would circulate in the art world and act as an introduction and as a sales

pitch for Kodak’s Retina Reflex III Camera which uses “35mm Kodak High Speed Infrared

Film.”174

J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer was the first to investigate art using infrared reflectograms, a

recording of reflected infrared radiation.175

De Boer majored in experimental physics at the

Municipal University of Amsterdam and joined the military. He later joined the Central Research

Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science and worked as the editor of the Studies in

Conservation journal. In 1968 he published “Infrared Reflectography: a Method for the

Examination of Paintings” in Applied Optics as an introduction to improved techniques in

173

Charles F. Bridgman and H. Lou Gibson, “Infrared Luminescence in the Photographic Examination of Paintings and Other Art Objects,” Studies in Conservation 8, no. 3 (Aug. 1963): 77. 174

Bridgman and Gibson, “Infrared Luminescence in the Photographic Examination of Paintings and Other Art Objects,” 88. 175

Berrie, “Fine Art Examination and Conservation,” 400.

39

examining underdrawings.176

In 1969, de Boer published “Reflectography of Paintings Using an

Infrared Vidicon Television System” as a longer, more involved piece explaining the proper

application and analysis involved in using the new technology. The Vidicon was developed in

the 50s and used by NASA to scan and capture images of space in real time from their unmanned

spacecrafts.177

By 1966, de Boer applied the Vidicon system to panel paintings. The scanning

system, which was made commercially available in the mid 60s,178

allowed for images to appear

immediately on a monitor screen which would be photographed by a monitor-sensitive

camera.179

The enlarged images would then need to be assembled for full painting analyses. The

paintings were exposed to infrared radiation for a few seconds in order to avoid overheating of

the pigments, and videotape recording was used for reflectogram storage.

De Boer praised the Vidicon system for its speed, ease of operation, recording of details,

and comparatively low cost. These features were extremely valuable in the reflectography of

paintings.180

De Boer’s image samples came from the Netherlands and Belgium. Interpreting the

infrared photographs and reflectograms required reflectance formula calculations and thickness

formula calculations, both of which he outlined in the paper.181

Obtaining the physical infrared

photograph would not provide the answers, and further scientific and mathematical analysis was

particularly important in properly interpreting the reflectogram data. Thus, de Boer championed

collaboration between the Statistical Department of the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam, the

Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, and museums and art historians.

176

J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, “Inrared Reflectography: a Method for the Examination of Paintings” Applied Optics (1968): 1711. 177

Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope, 46. 178

Elizabeth Walmsley, Catherine Metzger, John K. Delaney, and Colin Fletcher. "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," Studies in Conservation 39, no. 4 (1994): 217. 179

J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” Studies in Conservation (1969): 107. 180

De Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” 109. 181

De Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” 107.

40

Following de Boer’s analysis, researchers at Amsterdam’s Central Research Laboratory

for Objects of Art and Science focused their energies towards infrared spectroscopy, the study of

radiated energy associated with infrared radiation.182

In 1970, Emilie Helena van‘t Hul-Ehrnreich

specialized in this study in order to obtain unambiguous results in analyzing old paintings. She

used the Perkin-Elmer microscope to investigate and assess paint spectrums. She worked at the

Physical Laboratories of the Philips Factories of Eindhoven in the Netherlands and the Technical

University of Eindhoven before joining the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art.183

Highly trained physicists and chemists who had contributed to efforts in the Cold War began

applying their skill sets to art analysis.

The Nd: YAG184

laser, a laser developed in 1964, emits infrared radiation. It was

developed at Bell Laboratories and used for distance approximations and target designation.185

Bell Laboratories researched and produced a wide range of technologies related to radio

astronomy, and astrophotography. In fact, the company is responsible for inventing the charge-

coupled device (CCD) which is the foundation for digital photography and high definition space

images.186

Under the leadership of James B. Fisk, Bell Labs developed the first communications

satellite and established systems engineering for the Apollo Space Program.187

This was the peak

of the Space Race and a moment of American triumph. It also established a foundation of

182

E. H. van't Hul-Ehrnreich, "Infrared Microspectroscopy for the Analysis of Old Painting Materials," Studies in Conservation 15, no. 3 (Aug. 1970): 181. 183

Hul-Ehrnreich, "Infrared Microspectroscopy for the Analysis of Old Painting Materials," 181. 184

Nd: YAG stands for neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet which is a crystal. The laser emits infrared light with a wavelength of 10640 Å. See note 180. 185

“Nd: YAG laser, diode pumped YAG laser system, and green YAG Laser module,” CrystaLaser. http://www.yag-laser.us/ 186

“Charge Coupled Device,” Alcatel-Lucent (2006-2012): http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/belllabs (accessed Oct. 2012) 187

"Bell Labs Presidents: James B. Fisk, 1959-1973," Alcatel-Lucent (2006-2012) http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/belllabs


41

imaging technology and lasers that physicists would use after the race in other research

endeavors.

Dr. John Asmus was the first to apply the Nd: YAG laser to art conservation following

his involvement in Cold War research. Dr. Asmus received a Ph.D. from Caltech in Quantum

Electronics and Physics.188

He worked at the United States Naval Ordnance Laboratory, went to

Copenhagen to monitor Soviet ICBM launches and nuclear explosions during the Cold War and

then began working on Project ORION. He also discovered one of Leonardo da Vinci’s lost

paintings, the pearl necklace beneath the surface of the Mona Lisa, and new marble cleaning

methods. When asked about his transition into the art world, Dr. Asmus explained that “In my

spare time I travelled all over Europe visiting museums and developing a love for classical

art.”189

In 1968, he worked as an advisor for the Defense Department’s laser program and headed

the National Laser Program. His work in holographic laser recordings and a suggestion from a

geophysicist colleague led Asmus into the world of art conservation. He is now considered one

of the world’s leading conservation scientists.190

1972 was his first ever research project in art conservation and dealt with crumbling

Venetian marble sculptures. He received endorsements from a Nobel Prize winner in physics, the

president of American company TRW, and several scientists.191

Asmus applied what he had

learned during his work in Project ORION, specifically related to the laser frequency and

radiation that would be appropriate for certain materials. In the 1970s, NASA had trouble with

188

John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 189



John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/

42

funding, and, after failed launches, the agency began cutting projects and partnering with

institutes in Europe in order to cut costs.192

While Asmus stated that his interest in the art world

originated with his time in Europe, other physicists working in government Cold War research

lost funding for their projects and looked for occupations that met their specialized skill set. 193

This established a model for advanced conservation work as an international, interdisciplinary,

and interdepartmental effort.

Art museums around the world began implementing radiation technologies and endorsing

physicists to perform research that would answer questions about artists and historical objects

that had never before been answerable. Universities, museum laboratories, government

institutions and even motion picture studios194

carried out and supported these projects in order

to answer questions about society and its most significant artists. All of these institutions

maintained a strong foundation in infrastructure; they all placed value in acquiring knowledge,

understanding context, and institutional pride. Throughout the 70s, art analyses and research

papers on pigment materials were published by physicists, chemists, and fine arts students all of

whom collaborated with individuals in fields outside of their own expertise.195

Joan Carpenter, a student at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, was one such

individual. In 1977 she published an analysis of artist Jasper Johns’ Flag and Target with Four

Faces. Her piece appeared in the Art Journal which is funded by the College Art Association.196

Jasper Johns, an artist known for his collage work, creates overlapping images, some of which

192

Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope, 363-4. 193



R. L. Feller, B. Keisch, and M. Curran, "Notes on Modern Pigments," Bulletin of the American Group. International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works 12, no. 1 (Oct. 1971): 62. 196

Joan Carpenter, "The Infra-Iconography of Jasper Johns," Art Journal 36, no. 3 (1977): 221.

43

cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. When Carpenter applied infrared radiation to the

pieces, she observed underlying aspects of the work that art historians had never considered in

their previous analyses. Carpenter’s article contains images of Johns’ works and visually

compares the “normal” photograph with the infrared photograph. This assessment revealed that

newspapers and journals were pasted below the painting. The content of these news sources

indicated the time and place of the work and Johns’ political intentions. More specifically,

Carpenter noted that Johns used articles from The Nation which focus on the New Deal and the

1930s and United States government documents below his Flag.197

Accordingly, Carpenter

demonstrated that Johns established an underlying historical and political context for his

painting.

However, not all art historians were versed in the telling features of infrared analysis. In

1976, just a year before Carpenter published on Jasper Johns, Alec Cobbe, Assistant Director at

the University of Cambridge and former restorer at the Tate Gallery, London, published a paper

which examined the process of dating paintings with canvas stamps. In the article he noted that

there was no method for determining canvas dates when the canvas is covered by relining.198

A

year later, F. Dupont Cornelius criticized Alec Cobbe’s conclusion and noted that he had yet to

explore infrared photography. Cornelius suggested purchasing “IR sensitive film” from Eastman-

Kodak and experimenting with photographing paintings.199

He noticed that materials that appear

opaque to X-rays were transparent to IR and allowed for canvas stamp and dating of paintings

that had been relined.200

Those art critics who were largely unaware of the new technologies

197

Carpenter, "The Infra-Iconography of Jasper Johns," 225. 198

F. Dupont Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” Studies in Conservation 22, no. 1 (1977): 42. 199

Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” 42. 200

Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” 42.

44

were missing an entire set of facts and figures; their data was incomplete, and their results did

not tell the entire story. Thus, collaboration became the new norm.

Richard Newman demonstrated this interdisciplinary tendency in a piece entitled “Some

Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials” in the Journal

of the American Institute for Conservation. He collaborated with the Fogg Art Museum’s Center

for Conservation and Dr. Gregory Exarhos and Dr. Barry Nelson, both professors in the

Chemistry Department at Harvard University.201

Newman explained that computers completed

the process of identifying and classifying materials and pigments. The paper’s publication in the

Journal of the American Institute for Conservation suggests that this material understanding

would contribute to the fields of conservation and preservation.

Scientists and art conservators relied on understanding the most basic and fundamental

composition of painting materials. The discussion of carbon bonds, molecular structure, sulfate

compounds, polymorphs and ions, act as the foundation for Newman’s article. Figures and

graphs relating transmittance to wavelength are the central areas of focus. The colors and paints

that actually correspond with a specific chemical composition and degenerativity are not

identified until the second half of the 20-page report. Newman concluded that the report was

meant as “an introductory review of a few of the possible applications of the infrared

spectroscopic technique in the realm of routine characterization of painting materials.”202

It

functioned as a survey of the spectra of pigment mixtures whose composition can be difficult to

identify. This paint categorization contributed to the art historian’s repertoire of facts. It would

allow them to better determine the historical and technological context of the artist and the

painter.

201

Newman, "Some Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials," 62. 202

Richard Newman, "Some Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials," Journal of the American Institute for Cosnervation 19, no. 1 (1979): 59.

45

By the end of the decade, art historians were publishing art critiques that fully relied on

infrared analysis. They acknowledged that analyzing underdrawings revealed an artistic process

that was never before accessible: the evolution of a painting.203

Understanding this process,

especially in reference to old masters, has been sought after since the field’s 16th

century

inception with Vesari’s Lives of the Artists. Leonardo da Vinci’s works received special attention

because of their national and historical importance and because of their fragile state. In 1979,

publications on Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper revealed that his techniques were not only

inconsistent with “classical mural techniques”204

but also that these methods most likely caused

the continued deterioration of the masterpiece. Mauro Matteini, one of the leading scholars on

the subject, was traditionally trained in chemistry at the University of Florence.205

Museum display strategies also relied on the scientific analyses of specific pieces. Alan

Donnithorne studied physics and mathematics at the University of Sheffield. When he published

“The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together,” he was

working in the Conservation Division of the Department of Scientific Research and Conservation

in the British Museum.206

The drawings he analyzes were acquired as pieces that were pasted

together. They were not displayed because the British Museum’s placement of works is

“arranged and stored alphabetically by artist’s surname, century by century.”207

Thus,

Donnithorne’s work was meant to remedy this “placement problem” by explaining “the technical

examination, separation, conservation and restoration of the two drawings” separately.208

203

Rona Goffen, “A 'Madonna' by Lorenzo Lotto," MFA Bulletin76 (1978): 36. 204

Mauro Matteini and Arcangelo Moles, "A Preliminary Investigation of the Unusual Technique of Leonardo's Mural ‘The Last Supper,’" Studies in Conservation 24, no. 3 (1979): 131. 205

Matteini and Moles, "A Preliminary Investigation of the Unusual Technique of Leonardo's Mural ‘The Last Supper,’" 133. 206

Alan Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," Studies in Conservation 27, no. 4 (Nov. 1982): 72. 207

Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 208

Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together,"

46

Donnithorne detailed his use of infrared photography as a means of allowing “parts of the object

below the immediate surface to be rendered visible on film” which would reveal the materials

holding the drawings together and indicate the presence of underdrawings.209

His

acknowledgements included the Museums Association, his colleagues at the British Museum,

and experts in radiography and photography some of whom were doctors who provided technical

assistance in X-ray use.210

Traditionally trained scientists increasingly made contributions to art history as new

radiation technologies came on the market. Elizabeth Walmsley and Catherine Metzger, both

painting conservators at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, worked with chemists,

biologists, and optical scientists to publish “Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with

Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared.”211

The piece compares two camera systems: the

CCD and the Vidicon. The National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C., Eastman Kodak,

technicians, and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences all contributed to the

research.212

By the end of the twentieth century, there would be few, if any, art history

publications that did not acknowledge technical collaboration.

In 1990, Duilio Bertani and six of his colleagues published “A Scanning Device for

Infrared Reflectography” in Studies in Conservation which described a new art examination

technology. The author noted that “infrared reflectography is currently a well-established

technique for the analysis of paintings.”213

Infrared was now an integrated method. Art

historians, to a certain extent, relied on this former military technology for accurate

209

Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 164. 210

Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 171 211

Walmsley et al., "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," 230. 212

Walmsley et al., "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," 230. 213

D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990): 113.

47

interpretations. Bertani stated that the “IR-sensitive television system” requires no special

training and “permits an easy and immediate visualization of underdrawings and, in general, of

changes in the work of art, thus making it a powerful tool both for the art historian and for the

restorer.” Duilio Bertani is a physicist. He received a graduate degree from the University of

Milan and was working at Florence’s Instituto Nazionale di Ottica (National Institute of Optics)

when the paper was published.214

Three of his coauthors were also trained in physics at the

University of Florence and the Max Planck Institut in Munich. These individuals, traditionally

trained in the high sciences, collaborated with university art history departments, museums, and

the Studies in Conservation journal to explain the new device’s particular importance. They were

concerned with making it accessible to those responsible for truthfully interpreting history. These

collaborations would lead to some of the most telling discoveries in art history.

Andreas Burmester, another scholar on infrared reflectograms, earned degrees in organic

chemistry and mathematics before devoting four years to studying art history. He now heads the

Doerner Institut, an organization associated with the Bavarian State Painting Collections and

devoted to conservation, analysis, and research of works of art.215

The institute was founded in

1937, and its areas of focus immediately following World War II were that of conservation and

reconstruction.216

The institute did not shift its focus towards art technology until 1964 when

international and political science efforts transitioned into outer space, a widespread trend for

museums and art organizations.217

Burmester’s decision to pursue a formal degree in art history following his technical

degrees became even more common in the 1990s. Scientists in this period took on the role of art

214

D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990): 116. 215

Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.html. 216

Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.htm. 217

Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.html.

48

historian even more so than the previous decades in that they published works interpreting the

truth behind paintings and their creators. Where conservation scientists were producing chemical

papers on the composition of pigments and underdrawings, traditionally trained scientists were

analyzing art and a painting’s historical context by applying their material knowledge of nature

and the universe. The MIT Press published one such piece by Professor Stanley David

Gedzelman. Gedzelman works in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at New York’s

City College.218

While he teaches meteorology and atmospheric optics he has also examines the

manner in which artists paint the sky and weather. His analyses reveal the potential shifts in the

atmosphere and significant meteorological events that were recorded artistically before proper

photography existed.

Gedzelman’s “The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh,” reveals the scientific

aspects of van Gogh’s paintings. Gedzelman’s 1990 analysis of Vincent van Gogh’s works,

especially the Starry Night indicate that van Gogh’s paintings were more an accurate depiction of

the nighttime sky than a hallucination. In fact studies of the Starry Night reveal that van Gogh’s

sky resembles the Whirlpool Nebula.219

Astronomers could accurately distinguish aspects of the

universe in his painting. While many artists were creating skies that contained “flagrant

violations of the laws of nature,” van Gogh made the sky’s natural elements identifiable and, to a

certain extent, truthful.220

J. Patrick Harrington, Professor of Astronomy at the University of

Maryland and astrophysicist, provided a paper similar to that of Professor Gedzelman’s. He

analyzed the works of Charles E. Burchfield an early 20th

century American artist whose

218

Stanley David Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," Leonardo 23, no. 1 (1990): 109. 219

Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," 109. 220

Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," 109.

49

paintings contain astronomical objects and often portray accurate positions of the Moon, Jupiter,

and Saturn.221

The scientist as an art historian gained popular recognition in 1992 when Dr. John

Asmus, Cold War scientist and laser conservationist, completed a comprehensive analysis of the

Mona Lisa. His work ushered in an unprecedented level of international collaboration in art. The

project to “clarify” one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works began when Carlo Pedretti,

art historian at UCLA, and Lord Kenneth Clark, British art historian and museum director,

learned of new techniques in computer image processing. When CBS News anchorman Walter

Cronkite222

interviewed Asmus on the subject of art conservation and learned of the project,

Asmus gained an endorsement and additional funding from CBS News.223

Asmus’s connection

to JPL and technical institutions contributed to the project’s momentum. The investigation

revealed that Leonardo drafted the piece with a necklace around the subject’s neck and a river

and bridge in the background.224

This discovery not only shed light upon Leonardo’s process but

also revealed that the mysterious woman was likely Costanza d’Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla.

Asmus’s research mobilized technical and museum institutions toward a common goal. His

investigative efforts acted as a model for the future of art history and science.

In 1995, Asmus would lead the first conference on Lasers in the Conservation of

Artworks (LACONA) in Crete, Greece. The goal of the LACONA was to “provide an

opportunity for scientists from universities and research laboratories to meet and especially for

221

J. Patrick Harrington, "The Moon, The Stars, and The Artist: Astronomy in the Works of Charles E. Burchfield," American Art Journal 22, no. 2 (1990): 57. 222

Walter Cronkite was considered as the “most trusted man in America.” He covered some of the world’s most pivotal events ranging from World War II to the U.S. space program. 223


John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/

50

restorers, art historians and laser manufacturers to present and discuss new results concerning the

application of laser technology in the restoration of artworks.”225

Since this initial meeting,

professors, scientists, and the art industry have supported this “close cooperation between

scientists and restorers” in order to drive the future of the field.

LACONA AND INTERNATIONAL ART NETWORKS

In 2003, Osnabrück, Germany hosted the 5th

LACONA Conference (LACONA V), and

in September 2011, LACONA IX took place in London with a focus on “the application of lasers

to the treatment and analysis of cultural heritage.”226

Dr. Asmus continues to play a key role in

leading and organizing the conferences. Participation in the conference and the publication of the

conference’s proceedings indicates the priorities of transparency and access with respect to this

subject. Where exclusivity and isolation characterized early nineteenth century art history, the

field of the twenty-first century has evolved to embrace an international and interdisciplinary

effort. The conference demonstrates this shift and a subsequent rise in art, science, and

technology networks. LACONA V highlighted four of these networked institutions: the Euregio-

Center of Expertise for Art Conservation Technology, COST G7, Project OPTOCANTIERI, and

the Spanish Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage. The Euregio-Center of Expertise for Art

Conservation Technology received funding from the European Union and partnered with the

University of Münster’s Department of Biophysics and commercial technology companies to

develop new techniques and acquire knowledge in art preservation.

225

K. Dickmann, C. Fotakis, and J. F. Asmus (eds.). "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003): v. 226

LACONA IX, http://www.lacona9.org/

51

COST G7 involved the participation of 27 countries to achieve the “acute necessity of

harmonization of the activities between scientists and restorers.”227

COST G7 led to the

formation of ISAAC, the Innovative Science Application for Cultural Heritage, which is an open

network that “covers an important gap in the European cultural landscape.”228

The Spanish

Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage launched a similar project in Spain with 21 research

groups and 16 institutes.229

Project OPTOCANTIERI’s ultimate goal of distributing methods

from the Institute of Applied Physics to professional end-users in the restoration industry

illustrates the industry’s ambitions toward accessible innovation.230

American art research institutes also launched network projects and championed making

resources publicly available. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the first American museum to

house a scientific laboratory, launched a project entitled CAMEO, Conservation and Art

Materials Encyclopedia Online, in 2000.231

The project is a free web based resource on the

materials and technologies used in conservation and preservation. The database contains tens of

thousands of records and entries for professionals and amateurs alike. In a similar spirit, the

Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) compiles international conservation literature on preservation

and conservation and makes them publicly available. The GCI is one of the leading institutions

in researching new methods for art conservation and analysis. Its mission consists of “the

227

R. Radvan, “COST G7 Action Creates a Durable Instrument for Advanced Research Implementation in Artwork Conservation by Laser,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 381. 228

Radvan, “COST G7 Action Creates a Durable Instrument for Advanced Research Implementation in Artwork Conservation by Laser,” 387. 229

M. Castillejo, M.T. Blanco, and C. Sáiz-Jiménez, “Spanish Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 395. 230

R. Salimbeni, R. Pini, and S. Siano, “The Project OPTOCANTIERI: A Synergy between Laser Techniques and Information Science for Arts Conservation,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 389. 231

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CAMEO: Conservation & Art Material Encyclopedia Online, 2012, http://cameo.mfa.org/index.asp (accessed October 2012).

52

creation and dissemination of knowledge that will benefit the professionals and organizations

responsible for the conservation of the world's cultural heritage.”232

John Asmus has worked

with the GCI and contributed to its objectives in technical art history.

This focus on public access and information dissemination also characterizes twenty-first

century astronomy. Where world renowned museums including the Louvre, The National

Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, share a

mission of “establishing, preserving, and documenting” collections of artwork,233

the

International Astronomical Union has the same objective in the context of the universe.

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION AND ART

“The International Astronomical Union (IAU) was founded in 1919. Its mission is to

“promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international

cooperation.”234

In 2009, the IAU launched the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) in order

to celebrate the Union’s 90 year anniversary. The project began with the IAU partnering with 19

other organizations including the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the

European Space Agency (ESA), and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. This international alliance

would “help people rediscover their place in the Universe through the sky, and thereby engage a

personal sense of wonder and discovery.”235

This public mission is precisely what scientists have strived towards for centuries. It is

the foundation of scientific revolutions, the catalyst behind technological progress, and the

232

D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990), 116. 233

About MoMA, http://www.moma.org/about/index 234

Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 4. 235

Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 5.

53

mindset of individuals looking for universal truths. This “rediscovery” is not specific to an

individual discipline. In fact, the public endorsement of this introspective exploration illustrates

that it is one of humanity’s intellectual characteristics. The International Year of Astronomy

demonstrates this convergence in approach which has come full circle since Giotto’s portrayal of

Halley’s Comet at the turn of the fourteenth century. The IYA organized several initiatives with

the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to achieve

eight core goals: awareness, access, collaboration, education, appreciation, networking, equality,

and preservation of “our global cultural and natural heritage of dark skies and historical

astronomical sites.”236

The IYA’s “Dark Skies Awareness” mission aims to “preserve and protect

dark night skies in places such as urban cultural landscapes…to support the goals of UNESCO’s

thematic initiative.”237

Another initiative entitled “Astronomy and World Heritage: Universal

treasures,” hopes to “establish a link between science and culture” and act as a method for

preserving and conserving elements of astronomy that are prone to deterioration.

The World at Night (TWAN), another IYA project, epitomizes the contemporary link

between astronomy and art. The initiative aims to create a collection of photographs and videos

showcasing historical sites and monuments against a backdrop of the night sky. 238

The universal

nature of astronomy drives this project in that the sky and the universe are not tied to nations.

The partnership between photographers and astronomers to create a collection of culturally and

scientifically significant works is beyond what an exclusively academic or artistic discipline

could achieve independently. Dennis Di Ciccio, a project contributor, is traditionally trained as a

236



Babak Tafreshi, “The World at Night: One people, one sky,” International Year of Astronomy 2009, 2009, 24 (www.twanight.org).

54

mechanical engineer. He works as a telescope maker, astrophotographer, and observer. 239

His

photographs are recognized as pieces of art because they convey the sky in a way that

astronomers and photographers have strived toward for centuries, a way that captures the sky’s

truth.

Wally Pacholka, a world renowned astrophotographer and contributor to the IYA TWAN

project, is recognized for the same achievement. He is a member of the Royal Astronomical

Society of Canada and identifies himself as an artist. According to Pacholka, the methods and

skill sets involved in research are universal. His images have received equal recognition in the

artistic discipline of photography as they have in the scientific discipline of astronomy. TIME

and LIFE praised his images and awarded his “Heavenly Comet and Earthly Fingers,” a

photograph of the Hale Bopp comet taken at Joshua Tree National Park in California, “Picture of

the Year” in 1997.240

NASA has recognized more than 20 of his images as “Astronomy Picture

of the Day” and has used several of his pieces of “art” as official astronomical records.241

CONCLUSION

The IYA and the initiatives outlined at the LACONA conferences demonstrate the

convergence of art and science. Specific institutional exclusivity as established by the Royal

Society in the seventeenth century and by museums in the eighteenth century largely disappeared

when the organizations realized that external input would not only preserve their discipline but

also move them forward in their ultimate goals. Nations have recognized this scientific authority

for centuries; art museums recognized this authority only after their cultural objects were at risk.

239

Babak Tafreshi, “The World at Night: One people, one sky,” International Year of Astronomy 2009, 2009, 24 (www.twanight.org). 240

"The Top Science." Time 150, no. 27 (Dec. 29, 1997): 160-161. 241

Brett Johnson, "About Wally Pacholka." AstroPics.com. http://www.astropics.com/About-Wally-Pacholka.html

55

In 1853, the National Gallery realized that their collection needed protection from

London’s contaminated air. During World War I and World War II, museum collections needed

protection from international geopolitical threats. After World War II, governments established

agencies like NASA which were oriented towards progress, an orientation that would ultimately

define a nation’s international authority. These bodies would come together to pursue

international progress. In the context of art and science, international progress merged with

precautionary preservation and conservation strategies. The history of a subject, whether a

painting or the universe, has the potential to predict that subject’s future.

Today, preventative research measures ensure that cultural heritage centers properly

protect their works, but the application is no longer driven by risk and fear of destruction. Instead

it is driven by a focus on discovery. In 2003, an art historian and physicist worked together to

discover Édouard Manet’s Infanta Maria Margarita which was initially identified as a Diego

Velázquez work. They uncovered a painting’s real identity. Art and science are different.

However, the fields express complementary dimensions of the human experience. Scientists are

characterized by a particular and unique interest in art as a quest for truth. An astronomer’s

discovery of the electromagnetic spectrum’s invisible light and a physicist’s discovery of a

painting’s formerly invisible necklace were both groundbreaking. They created a new reference

point in science and art, respectively, and established standards that never before existed.

56

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