We are pleased to announce a new, online edition of the NICAS colloquium on Thursday 9 December 2021 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 will be Gadis (Adis) Fitriana Putri (NICAS Research Associate)
The presenters are:
► Francien Bossema – Tailoring X-ray imaging techniques to date the Hugo de Groot book chest
Abstract:
In the ‘Historisch Bewijs’ series, the following question was asked: ‘Can we determine which of three candidate chests, if any, is the original in which Hugo de Groot escaped Castle Loevestein?’. The investigations led to a novel X-ray imaging method for dendrochronology of large wooden objects. Dendrochronology is an important tool to determine the date and provenance of historical wooden art objects, based on tree rings. These are not always accessible on the outside and thus X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been applied to visualise the tree rings non-invasively. For large objects it is often impossible to rotate fully within the scanner as is necessary for CT. We developed a line trajectory X-ray tomography technique, in which the object is moved only sideways. Using this easily implementable scanning trajectory, sharp reconstruction images of the tree rings can be obtained. This interdisciplinary project was recently awarded an NWO Team Science Award.
Bio:
Francien Bossema is a PhD student at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) on the topic of Computational Imaging for Cultural Heritage. Her research is part of the NWO/NICAS funded Impact4Art project in a collaboration between CWI and the Rijksmuseum, supervised by Erma Hermens and Joost Batenburg. Her research interests lie in the development of algorithms and methods tailored to the investigation of cultural heritage objects using X-ray CT and additionally the dissemination of the research results to a general public. https://fgbossema.github.io/
► Ige Verslype – New insights into the making of a copy after The Night Watch by Gerrit Lundens
Abstract:
The Night Watch room of the Rijksmuseum holds a smaller copy of Rembrandt’s iconic Night Watch. This copy (on loan from the National Gallery of London) was commissioned by the central figure in the composition, captain Frans Banninck Cocq (1605-1655), and presumably painted by Gerrit Lundens (1622-1686). The importance of the early copy (c. 1642-1655) lies in the fact that it shows Rembrandt’s composition before it was cut down on all sides in 1715, especially at the left side where two men and a small child were cut off. The detailed and mainly faithful copy is approximately six times smaller than Rembrandt’s masterpiece. Technical research as part of Operation Night Watch showed that Lundens employed a highly unusual technique to effectively reduce the large-scale composition of The Night Watch, providing new and surprising insights into the making of the copy.
Bio:
Ige Verslype was trained as an art historian and paintings conservator and has been working at the Rijksmuseum since 2004. She is one of the paintings conservators in the Operation Night Watch team.