Blog about 'The Girl in the Spotlight'.
Working together with specialists.
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Research Partners
For the research project 'Girl in the Spotlight' the Mauritshuis works together with different partners and specialists.
State-of-the-art research
The research project The Girl in the Spotlight is a Mauritshuis initiative and involves a team of internationally recognized specialists associated with the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Art and Science (NICAS). The NICAS partners are Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, TU Delft, and Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).
Other institutions involved include Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam (STCA), Maastricht University, University of Antwerp, the National Gallery of Art Washington and Hirox Europe. Head researcher AbbieVandivere: 'It’s an honour to collaborate with such a team of experts, and to have access to the state-of-the-art equipment that they will bring to the Mauritshuis. For two weeks, the museum will house one of the most advanced research centers in the world.'
Some of the technologies that the project will harness are MA-XRF scanning, optical coherence tomography and digital microscopy. After the two-week research period, the Girl with a Pearl Earring will be one of the best documented works of art in the world.
NICAS is an interdisciplinary research center initiated by the division for Physical Sciences of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO ENW), within which art history, conservation and restoration, and sciences are united.
The Scientific Examination of the Painting, Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring in 1998
1 January 1998, https://amolf.nl/publications/the-scientific-examination-of-vermeers-girl-with-a-pearl-earring
Karin M. Groen, Inez D. van der Werf, Klaas Jan van den Berg and Jaap J. Boon: The scientific examination of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring In: Vermeer Studies : Symposium Papers XXXIII Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts /ed. Ivan Gaskell and Michiel Jonker. - Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1998. - pp. 168-183
The background of the Girl with a Pearl Earring seems to be exceptional in Johannes Vermeer’s oeuvre; the only picture with a comparable dark background is Portrait of a Young Woman (in New York), dated c. 1666-1667. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. points out that Vermeer’s departure from his normal scheme of silhouetting figures against a white wall was according to the Dutch tradition and was meant to enhance the three-dimensional effect. White backgrounds tend to come forward while dark backgrounds tend to recede, bringing the figure into prominence. Presently the background of the Girl with a Pearl Earring appears uneven and spotted. During the 1994-1995 restoration it became clear that this appearance has nothing to do with ornamentation as, for example is the case with the background of The Girl with the Red Hat. The poor state of the painting may be related to earlier restoration procedures. It has been documented that the painting had been subjected to several lining and regeneration treatments. Investigation of the background was therefore undertaken as part of a larger study of the techniques and materials used by Vermeer in this painting. In 1980 the picture was investigated nondestructively by J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. with infrared reflectography and a stereomicroscope. Dark underpaint was found under the shadows of the blue turban, the yellow drapery, and the flesh. A small change in composition was found at the back of the neck. As early as 1968 two paint samples had been removed from the background along the left-hand and right-hand and right-handed edges and analyzed by Hermann K
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