media

Video presentation for the 19th ICOM-CC Triennial Conference, 2021 Beijing, Working Group Preventive Conservation. It accompanies the published paper 'Loans to non-museum organisations: concepts for crossing boundaries'. The presentation illustrates the decision-making process and tools described in the paper with a case study of a loan of artworks from the Dutch state collection kept by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands to Story House Belvedere in Rotterdam. The decision-making process is founded on the principles of value management, weighing the possible gain of social-societal values against the possible loss of cultural-historical values. The tools assist in finding affordable solutions to make non-museum loans happen in a responsible manner. Experience shows that non-museum loans are often possible, are highly rewarding, and allow lender and borrower to make optimal use of the connecting power of heritage to bridge gaps in society.

Esther van Duijn works as paintings conservator and researcher at the Rijksmuseum. She has specialized in the conservation history of the paintings collection of the Rijksmuseum and is currently part of the Operation Night Watch team. Between 1945 and 1947, Rembrandt’s iconic masterpiece The Night Watch (1642) was treated by C.H. Jenner (liner) and H.H. Mertens (restorer). As a result of the painting’s fame and changing attitudes towards restoration and technical research in the post-war Rijksmuseum, the 1945–47 treatment was exceptionally well documented for its time. This paper discusses the materials and methods used during this treatment and places them in a broader context by examining how they compare to later sources describing the materials and methods used by Mertens or under his supervision.

Lambert van Eijck is assistant professor at the Applied Sciences faculty of TU Delft. He develops neutron methods for materials science and has been applying neutron computed tomography and neutron diffraction techniques to cultural heritage objects over the last few years. In this presentation, Lambert will show his latest research on the enigmatic 17th century microscopes of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the founder of 'microbiology'. His skills in microscope instrumentation were unsurpassed worldwide for more than 150 years, with his contemporaries being very eager to learn his tricks. During his life and up till recently, the exceptional optical performance of these microscopes was assigned to his lens-making skills, about which he was very secretive. With only a few Van Leeuwenhoek microscopes left in the world, Lambert embarked on a quest with Tiemen Cocquyt of Rijksmuseum Boerhaave to reveal the secret of the Van Leeuwenhoek microscopes. This presentation will address the long and winding road to revealing the secret, after 350 years.