BA students from Maastricht University’s Science Programme have just completed an eight-week module entitled Science and the Visual Arts: Conservation and its Histories (April – May 2016). The module is given each Spring term and consists of a series of lectures, skills workshops and tutorials exposing Science Programme students to the world of artistic practice, conservation, and authenticity in the arts. The module is taught jointly by staff from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University and Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL). This is the fourth year this module has been organised.

The course traces the growing impact of the sciences in fine art conservation since the late 19th century and how it has reframed the way museums define their task of preserving and presenting cultural heritage. Actual case histories, like the ‘cleaning controversy’ of 1947 and the recently completed Victory Boogie Woogie research project illustrate both the tensions and the fruitful collaborations between scientific and aesthetic approaches to art. The course gives an introduction to how artworks are made, what materials the artist has chosen and how they degrade. This gives the students an insight into the more philosophical aspects of authenticity and artistic intent, as well as a broad material knowledge of pigments, binders and polymers used by artists, past and present, to create art works. Degradation of materials is also touched upon so that the students become aware of which composite materials are authentic and which are anachronisms. The time frame is broad, ranging from artistic practice in the seventeenth century to the use of plastics by contemporary artists. While the course is too short to develop extensive expertise in the investigation of artworks, the students leave with a sense of achievement as they learn to look through artworks to the hidden, invisible components within.

It is often the first time that these science students have come into contact with the world of visual arts. They are confronted with more than the aesthetic, as they learn about the materials artists have used to construct their masterpieces. The lectures are full of case studies of art works undergoing conservation treatment at the SRAL studios and practical sessions in the studios allow the students to study the paintings first hand. Touching is allowed! The tutorials provide ample opportunity for the group to discuss the problems presented in the practice-oriented workshops.

This module is linked to a Skills Training course, which further acquaints the students with a variety of scientific analytical techniques used to identify materials used by artists. Those taking the Skills Training module investigate the materials more closely by carefully dissecting and analysing samples removed from paintings in order to gain more insight into the history of the object. Both modules stress the importance of the natural sciences in the fields of conservation and conservation science.

During the Skills Training module the students are given a case study with a specific problem and encouraged to use all the investigative techniques available at SRAL and some at Chemelot to discover more about the painting’s constituent materials. This problem-based learning approach encourages the student, for a short time at least, to be a detective and a conservation scientist. In 2015 the students were asked to identify the pigment palette used to create the decorative patterns on decorative interior panels in the Hindeloopen style dating from the seventeenth century.

Final presentations each year represent the richness of the material taught and the depth of understanding the students have obtained. Interested students are encouraged to continue along the path towards becoming an art investigator. Topics for Bachelor theses can be arranged at SRAL and to date two students have risen to the challenge, researching blue pigments used by Spanish medieval artists and the fading properties of Red Lake pigments.

For more information about SRAL, click here.

This course ties in with the research conducted in the Arts, Media and Culture research programme.