How to look at a Rembrandt like a conservator

"When I look at a Rembrandt,카지노 게임 컬렉션� says Heidi Sobol, MAC카지노 게임 컬렉션�00, Senior Paintings Conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I tend to go straight for the nose.카지노 게임 컬렉션� As part of the team responsible for the ROM카지노 게임 컬렉션�s current exhibition, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�In the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,카지노 게임 컬렉션� she examined many 17th-century Dutch masterworks recently. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�It was amazing to work with them. I saw the paintings during the condition-reporting stage, and when they were being hung.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

When she카지노 게임 컬렉션�s face to face with, say, Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, why look first at the nose? 카지노 게임 컬렉션�One reason is you can see Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s most notable ways of painting there 카지노 게임 컬렉션� scumbling, paint on paint that creates an impasto of pure colour,카지노 게임 컬렉션� she says. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s noses are a sculpture unto themselves. What he did with the paint application, especially on the faces, was a great leap forward.카지노 게임 컬렉션� As well, she카지노 게임 컬렉션�s fascinated by a technical quality: durability. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�The wonderful thing about Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s flesh tones is the significant amounts of lead white, a strong and stable colour. Lead paint tends to be robust, so the noses withstand the ravages of time a lot better than with other paints,카지노 게임 컬렉션� Ms. Sobol explains. That the work is well-made is important for a professional conservator: strong materials increase the chance of a successful treatment, removing a varnish perhaps, or cleaning dirt from a painting.

The way that Heidi Sobol looks at a Rembrandt 카지노 게임 컬렉션� for both its aesthetic and technical aspects 카지노 게임 컬렉션� hints at the conservator카지노 게임 컬렉션�s twin areas of expertise. A graduate of the Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Master of Art Conservation program, she is trained in art history and organic chemistry. For a conservator, these disciplines come together to confront the tricky challenges of cleaning, conserving, and restoring paintings. Chemistry has always been essential to both the making and the conservation of art, she says.

Multiple reactions are going on all the time: pollution, for example, can cause a crust to form on a painting as it reacts with surface layers, and there are continuous reactions within the painting too. Knowing how substances interact is vital for conservation. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�As a scientist, chemistry is the backbone of my work,카지노 게임 컬렉션� Ms. Sobol says. She has to know the chemical composition of paints to restore damaged areas and prevent fragile materials from degrading. Works of art are not only valuable but also irreplaceable, so a measured scientific approach is required for removing or adding anything, with the goal of preserving paintings for future generations.

She also draws on chemistry knowledge for mixing substances, such as the tailored waters she often uses. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I build cleaning solutions that are specific to the kind of dirt and the kind of painting.카지노 게임 컬렉션� She needs to know how to use a variety of unusual adhesives, from fish bladders to funori (a seaweed-based material), and how they will react with other materials. As well as cleaning works, a conservator may also provide more structure to a painting so it will last, or work on authenticating a painting and placing it within a specific artist카지노 게임 컬렉션�s oeuvre. She draws on both art and science to create the complex materials and to solve the complex problems she encounters.

A beautiful exercise of the mind

Heidi Sobol카지노 게임 컬렉션�s chemist is always in dialogue with her artist. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Conservation is a beautiful exercise of the mind, because you are constantly going between the brain카지노 게임 컬렉션�s left hemisphere 카지노 게임 컬렉션� the rational, analytical, objective, chemistry side 카지노 게임 컬렉션� and the right hemisphere, the creative side, which asks different questions: 카지노 게임 컬렉션�What카지노 게임 컬렉션�s the aesthetic?카지노 게임 컬렉션� 카지노 게임 컬렉션�How will this be interpreted?카지노 게임 컬렉션� 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Have I understood what the artist was trying to do?카지노 게임 컬렉션�카지노 게임 컬렉션�She needs to have expertise in the painter카지노 게임 컬렉션�s techniques, palettes, and recipes (which combine pigments with specific binders, such as linseed oil). This ensures any treatments are in harmony with the artist카지노 게임 컬렉션�s style and intentions.

Ms. Sobol's painstaking work involves many hours in front of an easel, uncovering what카지노 게임 컬렉션�s beneath, layer by methodical layer. Whether it카지노 게임 컬렉션�s cleaning decades of dirt to reveal the original colour or reconstructing damaged or lost parts of a painting, treatments today tend to be reversible, she says. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�We work in small areas, slowly and cautiously, so in the event that something goes wrong, we can arrest it quickly.카지노 게임 컬렉션� Art conservation has become 카지노 게임 컬렉션�less intervening over the years 카지노 게임 컬렉션� all of us have come across restoration treatments that were too permanent. We카지노 게임 컬렉션�ve all sat up nights cursing the restorer, even though they had their reasons, wondering, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�What adhesive did they use? It's so intractable and not responding to typical removal strategies!카지노 게임 컬렉션�카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Conservation is also specialized work, so instead of developing new technologies, innovations from other industries are often 카지노 게임 컬렉션�poached카지노 게임 컬렉션� and turned to a conservator카지노 게임 컬렉션�s purposes. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Laser cleaning is something we카지노 게임 컬렉션�ve adapted for cleaning specific kinds of artwork,카지노 게임 컬렉션� Ms. Sobol says. The lasers help destroy dirt, remove old varnishes, or even correct previous restorations. A century ago, an intentional technique on a Rembrandt was mistaken for damage and covered up, but luckily the cover-up was removable.

Unlocking the secrets of Rembrandt's palette

Non-destructive testing can give a conservator important information about a work of art. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�We take a sample of the paint layer no bigger than a period at the end of a sentence,카지노 게임 컬렉션� Ms. Sobol explains. With Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s work, microsampling has solved some mysteries. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�We카지노 게임 컬렉션�re using chemistry to reverse-engineer, to go back in time to understand how Rembrandt constructed his paintings. That카지노 게임 컬렉션�s giving us his secrets, because his paintings were so uniquely constructed compared to what his contemporaries were doing.

"We카지노 게임 컬렉션�ve determined that what we think are very complex paintings actually use a limited palette of 12 to 16 colours, We카지노 게임 컬렉션�re finding out the ways in which he uses his few colours, the manipulation of the media, to create these fantastical works.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Asked what we can learn from Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s palette, Ms. Sobol says she카지노 게임 컬렉션�s most interested in the skilful, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�counter-intuitive카지노 게임 컬렉션� way he got his effects. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�His light colours are these wonderful complex opaque creations 카지노 게임 컬렉션� the scumble, the layering 카지노 게임 컬렉션� while the dark parts, the shadows, are often very thin, consist of few colours, and tend to be translucent and layered repeatedly. Rembrandt took what most artists would do and turned it on its head.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

In her work of connecting with the past through what remains, does it ever feel like the forces of deterioration are winning? 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Sometimes,카지노 게임 컬렉션� she admits. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�But you just have to live with it. All paintings age.카지노 게임 컬렉션� Ironically, just as science has provided a fairly good understanding of Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s methods, other, less welcome discoveries have been made. "We are finding lead soaps, which, in a complex chain reaction, are causing craters, or pustules, in the paint over a long period of time. And there카지노 게임 컬렉션�s little we can do about it,카지노 게임 컬렉션� she laments. Plumbonacrite, a lead compound recently discovered in some of Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s work, is also problematic. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Much like the lead soaps, it results in deterioration over a long period of time, caused by the irradiation of light and absorption of CO2 from the air, resulting in a blanching appearance of the paint.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Despite the challenges of a conservator카지노 게임 컬렉션�s quest for permanence, on the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s death, we카지노 게임 컬렉션�re still enjoying his paintings. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�It카지노 게임 컬렉션�s like when you go to an antique car show, and you wonder, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�How can this thing be running so well after so much time, when a five-year-old car is a complete clunker?카지노 게임 컬렉션� You have to ask yourself, 카지노 게임 컬렉션�Well, how is it made?카지노 게임 컬렉션� And it has to do with good technology.카지노 게임 컬렉션� Rembrandt she describes as 카지노 게임 컬렉션�a great technician of art, who constructed well.카지노 게임 컬렉션� Mainly because of his limited palette, she explains, he knew the capabilities of the few pigments he was using. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�And he was smart enough to measure one against the other: if he was using one that wasn카지노 게임 컬렉션�t as great, he would temper or adjust it with a stronger, more stable pigment to give it a helping hand and maintain itself better. He really knew how to handle paint.카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Heidi Sobol카지노 게임 컬렉션�s days of looking at a painting as most people do, simply enjoying the expression or the brushstrokes, are behind her: she has spent too many years sitting close to paintings, considering the saturation levels of the varnish, or the mystery of what is underneath. When asked about her time teaching a course in art conservation at Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션�s in 2016, she recalls that Rembrandt카지노 게임 컬렉션�s Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo had just arrived at the Agnes. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�I think that painting is spectacular,카지노 게임 컬렉션� she says with feeling. Then she laughs. 카지노 게임 컬렉션�And yes, I did look right at his nose!카지노 게임 컬렉션�

Paintings seen in this story are from the exhibition "In the Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston"

Rembrandt van Rijn,
Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632.
Oil on panel. 73.7 x 55.8 cm.
Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo,
in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art.

Rembrandt van Rijn,
Reverend Johannes Elison, 1634.
Oil on canvas. 174.0 x 124.5 cm.
William K. Richardson Fund. 56.510.

Rembrandt van Rijn,
Maria Bockenolle (Wife of Johannes Elison), 1634.
Oil on canvas. 174.9 x 124.1 cm.
William K. Richardson Fund. 56.511.