We are pleased to announce a new, online edition of the NICAS colloquium on Thursday 22 September 2022 from 12.00 to 13.00 hrs. The colloquium will take place online through Microsoft Teams.
Throughout the year, NICAS organises a bi-weekly Colloquium consisting of two short research lectures. It provides researchers with the opportunity to present ideas for, updates on or results of their activities. The NICAS Colloquium allows people to stay informed on a regular basis about the latest developments and results of research and to exchange information and expertise.
The chair of this colloquium is
Martin Jürgens (Rijksmuseum)
The presenters are:
►Muriel Geldof –Van Gogh’s choice of painting materials: artistic preferences and practical circumstances
Abstract:
In this presentation, I will introduce my PhD-project which aims at a better understanding of Van Gogh’s choice of painting materials in his oil paintings of the Dutch (1881-1885), and Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise (1888-1890) periods. To this end, the artists’ materials – investigated by microscopy and chemical analysis on the paintings and in paint samples – will be placed in the context of his time and the circumstances he lived in. Also, the relation between material compositions and their properties will be studied, and ultimately these findings will be linked to Van Gogh’s ideas about his painting materials, for which his letters serve as a source of information. In the second part of my presentation, I will give a few examples of this approach, focussing on the canvas supports the artist used in Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise.
Bio:
Muriel Geldof is a conservation scientist at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. Her research focusses on the painting materials and techniques used by 19
th and early 20
th century artists, especially those of Van Gogh and his contemporaries. In 2021, she started a PhD-project on this topic under the supervision of Prof. dr. K.J. van den Berg (UvA/RCE) and Prof. dr. E. Hendriks (UvA), with the support of the Van Gogh Museum – ASML Partnership in Science.
► Suzanne Reus – Micromechanical behavior of Vincent van Gogh’s Prussian blue paints
Abstract:
Several degradation phenomena have been observed in areas of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings where he used Prussian blue oil paint. The issues include cracking and delamination, which can result from stresses that arise due to drying of the paint or due to variations in environmental conditions, like temperature and relative humidity. To be able to better understand the formation of such degradation phenomena, it is necessary to study the mechanical properties of paint films, which can enable us to better evaluate their stability over time. This talk will discuss my PhD project, which focuses on gaining a better understanding of the mechanical properties of Van Gogh’s Prussian blue oil paints and how these are influenced by aging of the paint. This includes studying the mechanical properties of mock-up samples using nanoindentation, as well as preparing more historically accurate reconstructions of Van Gogh’s Prussian blue paints.
Bio:
Suzanne Reus obtained a master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2021. She is currently a PhD student at the Van Gogh Museum, where she is working on investigating the mechanical properties of Vincent van Gogh’s Prussian blue paints under the supervision of Klaas Jan van den Berg and Maarten van Bommel.
