Jocelyn Hillier and Dr Abbie Vandivere; Interviewed by Dr Suzanne van de Meerendonk
An international collaboration involving conservators and curators from Agnes and the Art Conservation Program at Queen’s University, the Mauritshuis, The Hague and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford focuses on utilizing new examination technologies to better understand the materials and painting techniques used by Rembrandt and his circle.
They are looking at character studies from all three art collections that are by or have been attributed to Rembrandt in the past. His “Head of an Old Man in a Cap” (around 1630) was examined with a 3D digital microscope (Hirox) and M6 Jetstream Macro XRF scanner, revealing the order in which the preparatory layers and paint layers were applied. The use of the Hirox microscope also allowed for a detailed examination of Rembrandt’s brush handling and the scratched paint he used to delineate hairs in the subject’s eyebrows and beard.
“Technical examination of more securely attributed works, such as our “Head of an Old Man in a Cap”, provides valuable context against which to analyse paintings with uncertain attributions,” says Suzanne van de Meerendonk, Bader Curator of European Art. “But since technical knowledge circulated and materials were shared in artist workshops, we can also learn a lot from works created in those settings.”
In expanding the technical knowledge of these paintings, the research study provides exciting new insights into Rembrandt’s stylistic development and material experimentation during his early period.Jocelyn Hillier and Dr Abbie Vandivere; Interviewed by Dr Suzanne van de Meerendonk
An international collaboration involving conservators and curators from Agnes and the Art Conservation Prog …
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0:05
>> I am Jocelyn Hillier.
0:07
I’m a second-year student at the Queen’s Art
Conservation Program specializing in paintings.
0:14
>> I’m Abbie Vandivere.
0:15
I’m a paintings conservator from the
Mauritshuis, in The Hague, in the Netherlands,
0:19
and I’m here to consult and help
with this great Rembrandt project
0:23
that we’re working on together.
0:24
Obviously, paintings by the artist Rembrandt
van Rijn are very popular and well known,
0:30
but some paintings are less
researched than others.
0:34
And at the Mauritshuis, we started
a project looking into paintings
0:38
that have an unclear attribution, where we’re
not exactly sure if it’s by the master or not.
0:44
And we wanted to have a great comparison to
a painting that’s known to be by Rembrandt,
0:47
and that is the painting from the Agnes.
0:50
>> And so, we’ve been doing technical
investigations on this panel painting from Agnes
0:56
to understand the materials and techniques
that Rembrandt used to create it.
1:01
This has been a very exciting
project for me to work
1:04
on because I did my undergraduate
degree here at Queen’s
1:07
and I’ve been admiring this
painting from afar at the Agnes.
1:12
So, getting this opportunity to apply all
of the knowledge I’ve gained in art history,
1:17
and being able to come up with these results
and fully getting to test my knowledge
1:23
and my skills, has been an amazing
opportunity and I couldn’t imagine a project
1:28
that I would be more excited to
work on than this for my thesis.
1:31
>> For me to come here to Queen’s, to
Agnes, to have the opportunity to look
1:35
at this painting together with you and your
colleagues has been a great opportunity to sort
1:42
of make sure that what we are researching
at the Mauritshuis collaborates
1:46
with an authentic Rembrandt, because the
questions that we have about our artworks are
1:51
about attribution and whether
or not it’s similar.
1:53
We see similar technical aspects and some
1:56
of these aspects are very similar
and some of them diverge a bit.
1:59
So, seeing those minute differences
with our own eyes
2:01
and with these different technologies
has really been eye opening.
2:05
>> So, we’ve been examining the Rembrandt
panel using multiple imaging techniques,
2:10
looking at it under a microscope very
closely, looking at it under x-ray
2:15
and various other imaging techniques like
x-ray fluorescence to produce elemental maps
2:21
that can help to identify the pigments and
various other materials that Rembrandt used.
2:28
>> It’s so important to carry out
collaborative research on all sorts of paintings
2:32
because it really builds our body of knowledge.
2:35
And different institutions have different
paintings, different instrumentation
2:39
and different background knowledge that we can
all bring together and this is what is fantastic
2:43
about having the opportunity to
come see this with my own eyes.
2:46
There’s only so much that you can exchange
using digital means or through publications so,
2:51
really having the opportunity to see the
artworks ourselves, compare knowledge,
2:55
exchange knowledge really sort
of brings this to a new level.
2:59
And the facilities here and the equipment that
you have to examine these artworks are state
3:03
of the art and really coming
up with great results already.
3:07
>> So, one of the instruments, the Hirox
microscope, allows us to see the painting
3:12
in both 2D optical microscopy but then
also start to map it with 3D imaging,
3:18
where we can really look at the texture
of the paint and it really starts—
3:23
you start to develop sort of a very
close relationship with the painting.
3:27
Once you start examining it so up close,
you get to know the cracks and the pigments
3:31
and it really aids in gathering information
about how the things are applied.
3:37
>> I think also people who appreciate art
know that they are three dimensional objects.
3:43
But sometimes we sort of get lost in seeing
paintings as two dimensional things that we see,
3:48
for instance, in a book or in a print
or on a screen and really looking
3:52
under the microscope gives us
that three dimensional aspect
3:55
and seeing the individual
pigment particles at 100, 200,
3:59
even a thousand times magnification really gives
you a different view of the master at work.
4:04
>> Yes, there’s many interesting details that
are in this panel, like the deliberate scratches
4:10
that are used to emphasize the
eyebrows and the shape of the beard.
4:15
It’s been very interesting to investigate
the layer structure of the painting
4:19
and how he built up, from a
very initial underpainting,
4:23
to this final polished composition.
4:27
It’s been really interesting to investigate
this from a standpoint of a young artist
4:35
where he’s making a lot of changes and
is experimenting in his technique.
4:38
>> Macro X-ray fluorescence scanning is a
technology that detects the chemical elements
4:43
in the pigments that Rembrandt used.
4:45
So, paint is made up of dry
powders, these pigments,
4:48
and the pigments themselves have
different elements like lead
4:52
in lead white or mercury in vermilion.
4:56
And this machine scans the
surface very, very slowly
5:00
and detects all of these chemical elements.
5:02
And not only the elements in the paint
at the surface, sometimes it tells us
5:06
about layers that are beneath the surface.
5:08
And this technology has been
revolutionary in technical examination
5:14
because it doesn’t even need
to touch the paint surface.
5:16
We can find out about the layers at and
beneath the surface without ever needing
5:20
to take any samples or to
touch the painting at all.
5:25
>> Yes, it’s been incredibly helpful with
understanding the preliminary process
5:30
that Rembrandt used and changes to the
composition and the different locations
5:36
and the uses that pigments were used.
5:40
Scanning X-ray fluorescence has also revealed
that there is a preliminary composition that has
5:46
since been painted over that Rembrandt
had abandoned for some reason,
5:50
showing that he recycled the
panel and continued to evolve
5:54
in his painting practice, even
on one individual painting.
5:59
>> I think that’s, you know, we have preliminary
results about that but I think that’s
6:03
so exciting to think what we see on the
surface is different than how he started off.
6:07
That maybe there is a portrait underneath
of the same person in a different pose
6:11
or maybe a totally different
person and this technology—
6:13
without macro XRF scanning would never
have known this by looking at the surface.
6:16
>> We wouldn’t be able to tell whatsoever.
6:18
>> Yeah.
6:18
>> It was extremely exciting to watch up the
scan comes line by line and to start to see
6:25
that come to life of this invisible
composition, that you can’t see
6:31
from the surface finally start to pop
up, was like a very exciting moment.
6:36
>> And definitely more research
needs to be done on this
6:39
but even just the results
we have already really—
6:41
>> Are really fun.
6:43
[laughter]
6:44
>> Yeah.
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