(by Chloe Cao, Chemistry Team)
This week, the SCIART students visited New York City to learn more about conservation science. We toured the conservation labs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attended a seminar by Dr. Jennifer Mass from the Bard Graduate Center for Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture.
At the Metropolitan, we visited five labs, and each lab focused on different instrumentation. The first lab examined the environment of the museum and performed several Oddy tests to identify whether a material was suitable to be used for storage or the exhibition of an object. The next lab we visited used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for compositional analysis in glass and other objects. Using SEM and EDS, it is possible to trace the origin of a piece of glass. The third lab primarily used Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The scientists there showed the sample sizes that they were able to work with. On the microscope slides, the sample looked like a small chip of white paint.
The fourth scientist talked about the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) in conservation science and how it has been helpful determining the components of paints. For example, it is possible to tell if gum arabic or eggs were used in a paint. In the last lab, the scientist talked about inorganic analysis. In particular, he talked about how he was using XRD (x-ray diffraction) to study crucibles found an Angkor Wat. While we did not really get to visit the exhibits at the Metropolitan, a few of us were able to see a brief glimpse of the Egyptian Art exhibit and the mummy portraits that were discussed in a seminar at the Walters Museum of Art.
After lunch, we went down to the Bard Graduate Center to listen to a seminar by Dr. Jennifer Mass. In the first presentation, she told us about what she had learned from studying the painting called The Blue Room by Picasso which was created during his Blue Period. Using different infrared wavelengths, it was possible for her to find out that there was hidden painting of a man underneath the painting. This man was done in a style characteristic of Picasso before his Blue Period which shows how he reused his canvases. She was also able to do different forms of spectroscopy to determine the composition of the paints that he used and that for some areas he had mixed two different colors on the canvas rather than on his palette.
In a second presentation, Dr. Mass discussed the analysis of an artifact identified as a "vampire killing kit" from the Nineteenth Century. It was discovered that the kit was a mixture of parts that were authentic and forgeries. This led to a discussion about forgeries: what can be done to prevent forgeries from entering the art market and how forgers can create these items.
After the wonderful seminar, the SCIART group took the time to visit different parts of Central Park and enjoy the wonderful weather.