How Science found Mona Lisa’s Pearl Necklace: The evolution of scientific involvement in art history from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first century

Julia Ilana Eckstein

Honors Thesis for Science, Technology and Society

University of Pennsylvania

December 2012

Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D.

1

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Jonathan D. Moreno, University of Pennsylvania David and Lyn Silfen Professor, for his guidance and support in my pursuit of this topic. His enthusiasm and curiosity inspired me in my research and writing. In addition, I would like to thank the University of Pennsylvania Science, Technology and Society Department for introducing me to subjects that have truly shaped my undergraduate academic experience.

This project would not have been possible without the unwavering encouragement from my parents who shared their love of art and its history with me from a very young age. I would also like to thank my brother who has continuously confirmed that interests in the hard sciences and the arts are not mutually exclusive.

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Abstract

Today, academic disciplines often collaborate as a means of achieving profound intellectual truths. Twenty-first century art history exhibits this method of research in its mobilization of chemistry, astronomy, and physics to investigate artworks. However, the beginning of art history as an institution in the eighteenth century established the field as an elite and exclusive area of study. The same was true of traditional sciences. It was not until museums were built and society attributed cultural importance to artworks that the art world acknowledged the possibility of scientific contributions, especially in the context of conservation. International political turmoil during World War I and World War II accelerated this shift in perspective as cultural objects stored in museums needed protection from destruction. Securing museums and ensuring paintings and sculptures were properly stored and restored led to the introduction of conservation science, museum laboratories, and innovative scientific techniques. Chemical analysis formed the foundation of conservation science; however, with the development and commercialization of infrared photography following World War I, astronomers and scientists realized that using this radiation to analyze paintings would reveal critical aspects of the layers beneath a work’s visible surface. This realization made infrared technology a revolutionary tool in art examination. It also suggested that art historians and scientists were not so different in their research methods and academic curiosities. Consequently, contemporary international networks in art and astronomy pursue similar goals: preservation and progress. 3

INTRODUCTION

The Mona Lisa once wore a pearl necklace. The words “once wore” should not apply to a static individual in a painting. While scholars in art history have extensively analyzed the Mona

Lisa’s smile, her eyes, whether or not she was really a she, the prospect that she wore something other than what appears in the painting seemed implausible. With the exception of material deterioration, the image on the surface of the canvas is the final product. This is the image we and so many observe in museums. However, in 1992, John F. Asmus of the Institute for Pure and

Applied Physical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, published “Mona Lisa

Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing.”1 His analysis revealed that Leonardo Da Vinci adorned the Mona Lisa with pearls and sat her in front of a different backdrop.

In order to conduct this research, Dr. Asmus received grants from the National Science

Foundation and the IBM Corporation.2 He used the IBM 3090 for image processing, worked with individuals at the IBM Palo Alto Scientific Center, and digitized images at NASA’s Jet

Propulsion Laboratory.3 While the Louvre Museum in Paris provided the physical painting, the actual research and processing took place exclusively in laboratories by traditionally trained physicists. In 1986, six years before Dr. Asmus formally published his findings, The New York

Times published a piece by Walter Sullivan entitled “Space-Age Methods Penetrate Art of the

Past.” The article explained how technology used to process images of the rings of Saturn was now being applied to art of the “great masters.”4 It may be surprising that physics was being directly applied to research in the arts. However, the application of “space-age” technology in the

1 John F. Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” Materials Characterization (1992): 119-128. 2 Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” 128. 3 Asmus, “Mona Lisa Symbolism Uncovered by Computer Processing,” 128. 4 Walter Sullivan, “Space-Age Methods Explore Art of the Past,” New York Times (June 1986): C1. 4 discipline of art history is not novel nor is the participation of scientists in studying and investigating this field. What is new is the type of technology applied.

The link between science and artwork, specifically between astronomy and painting began at the turn of the 14th century with Giotto di Bondone’s wall painting Adoration of the

Magi. The painting or fresco depicts the Matthew 2:11 section of the Bible in which three magi find Jesus by following a star, usually depicted as the Star of Bethlehem, and present him with gifts.5 In Giotto’s painting what many have concluded is Halley’s Comet takes the place of the

Star of Bethlehem.6 Giotto worked on the painting in Padua, Italy, one of the new centers of mathematics and astronomy.7

According to Roberta J. M. Olson, art historian of the New York Historical Society,

Giotto was the first to make the physical truth of astronomy a central element of a painting.8

When compared to contemporary images of Halley’s Comet, Giotto’s painting is “anatomically correct” most likely because of his particular interest in empiricism and observation.9 Thus, the

“shooting star” in the painting appears to be his interpretation of the 1301 Halley’s Comet. The painting was completed in 1306 and is housed in the Arena Chapel.

The astronomical aspects of Giotto’s work not only shocked his contemporaries but also encouraged investigation by 20th century astronomers into the timing of the painting and the placement of the comet. Jay Pasachoff, astronomer and professor at Williams College, has collaborated with Olson on investigating Adoration of the Magi and other paintings which were supposedly influenced by astronomy. David W. Hughes, Kevin K.C. Yau, and F. Richard

5 R. J. M. Olson and J. M. Pasachoff, "Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy." Meteoritics & Planetary Science 37 (2002): 1564. 6 Olson and Pasachoff, "Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1564. 7 Olson and Pasachoff, “Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1564. 8 Olson and Pasachoff, “Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1564. 9 Olson and Pasachoff, “Comets, meteors, and eclipses: Art and science in early Renaissance Italy," 1567. 5

Stephenson, referred to by Olson as “a trio of distinguished astronomers,” published “Much Ado

About Giotto’s Comet” in 1993. The piece is an analysis of the three comets that would have been visible to Giotto in the first five years of the 14th century.10 In 1980 the European Space

Agency launched a spacecraft named Giotto, after Giotto di Bondone, to fly by and study

Halley’s Comet.11

This partnership between the art historian and the astronomer or scientist is symbiotic.

Analysis in both disciplines yields insights into the perceptions of the artist and historical events in science. Art and science have long enjoyed a mutual respect. That is not to say there is no tension between art historians and scientists, but rather that in their core objectives they exhibit similar analytical skills. They are deeply concerned with materials and composition. They develop and utilize new techniques, follow procedures, and attribute particular importance to history.

In order to understand this modern relationship and how scientists like John Asmus or

David W. Hughes began analyzing paintings, an overview of the history of science and art is necessary. The two fields did not formally converge until each was established as an institution, and the integration of advanced technologies did not occur until society underwent a significant socio-political shift. More specifically, new photographic technologies of World War I and the commercialization of these instruments meant that the application of science for national protection would expand to include cultural protection. This cultural relevance would ultimately yield a partnership between the scientist and the art historian, one in which understanding artistic truths was consistent with understanding scientific truths.

10 D. W. Hughes, K. K. C. Yau, and F. R. Stephenson, "Giotto's Comet--was it the Comet of 1304 and not Comet Halley?" Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 34 (1992): 21-32. 11 David Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 128. 6

ORGANIZATION AS INSTITUTIONS

In the centuries following Giotto’s painting, art, its mediums, and its subjects evolved.

The same can be said for science and, more specifically, the fields of astronomy, physics, and mathematics during the Copernican Revolution. The paradigmatic Renaissance man Leonardo da

Vinci simultaneously acted as a scientist and an artist. Where art and science differentiated themselves was in their institutions. In science, organization within universities and the formalizing of communication through societies and journals began in 1660 with the Royal

Society of London.12

The Society acted as a platform for scientists to report observations and discoveries while corresponding with members through the Philosophical Transactions.13 Societies in France and

Germany developed in the 18th century, and the Royal Astronomical Society was founded in

1820. These institutions exhibited an air of exclusivity and prestige.14 In France, Louis XIV’s centralized government funded the Académie Royale des Sciences with the expectation that the society would produce tools for navigation and travel. Thus, scientific organizations began to take on a national role, contributing to the power of a given state.

In the context of art, artwork was first formally displayed in a public institution in 1793 with the opening of the Louvre in Paris.15 That is not to say art was not important before this period but rather that there was not a government funded institution organized specifically for the public display of a collection. The Louvre was the world’s first museum. It opened immediately following the French Revolution as a means of empowering the French people and granting them

12 Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Rhys Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 323. 13 Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 325. 14 Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 325. 15 Douglas Brent McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” The German Critique, no. 99 (Fall 2006): 212. 7 access to the home of the French monarchy.16 The museum and its works functioned as national symbols. Following the opening of the Louvre, European nations increasingly established museums as representations of patriotism and national unity. Several museums opened in national monuments or buildings that resembled government architecture as was the case with

Germany’s National Gallery. 17 These nineteenth century museums attracted an audience sympathetic to royalty and maintained the activity of museum-going as a high-society interest.

As institutions, scientific societies and art museums were distinct entities.

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the perception of national power shifted towards technological innovation and economic superiority. The Great Exhibition of London in

1851 in the Crystal Palace embodied this image of technological innovation.18 The Royal Society of the Arts, an institution founded in 1754 and based in London, organized the building of the

Crystal Palace which would house popular science and demonstrate its applications.19 Michael

Faraday, Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of London, sat on the board of the Great Exhibition.20 Faraday’s work in electromagnetism and electrochemistry targeted exposing metropolitan socialites to the newest discoveries. His lectures carried over to the national popularization and utilization of these innovations.21 One of the aims of the Royal

Institution and the ultimate goal of the Great Exhibition was to demonstrate technical solutions to society’s problems.

16 McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” 212. 17 McBride, “Modernism and the Museum Revisited,” 213-214 18 John McKean, “Joseph Paxton: Crystal Palace London 1851,” in Lost Masterpieces, by John McKean, Stuart Durant and Steve Parissien (London: Phaidon, 1999),. 19 McKean, “Joseph Paxton: Crystal Palace London 1851,” 20 James Hamilton, Faraday: The Life (London: HarperCollins, 2002), 265. 21 Bowler and Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey, 334, 372. 8

On opening day, the Great Exhibition drew crowds of over 25,000 to London.22 It exposed middle class Britons and tourists to technology’s commoditization.23 However, crowds were not drawn solely to the Crystal Palace; they also visited London’s museums and cultural centers, among them, the National Gallery.

The National Gallery opened in 1824 with a collection of pieces from a British banker and local artists who promised their pictures to “the nation.”24 The museum’s first director,

Charles Lock Eastlake, was appointed in 1855; however, he worked as the museum’s keeper beginning in the 1840s.25 In 1853, just two years after the Great Exhibition, concerns regarding the physical conditions of the pieces and the environment of the museum building surfaced as paintings began to deteriorate.26 Subsequently, Eastlake, as the museum’s chief representative, called upon Michael Faraday for scientific consultation.27 This marks the first partnership between an art institution and a scientist.

THE BEGINNING OF CONSERVATION SCIENCE

In 1853, Michael Faraday joined the Select Committee of the National Gallery in order to contribute to the investigation of the cleanliness of the paintings.28 His work in popular science and at the Great Exhibition demonstrated his willingness to contribute his technical work to society. In the 1820s and 30s Faraday worked closely with the military and the navy and made

22 Jeffrey A. Auerbach, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display (Yale University Press, 1999), 1. 23 Auerbach, The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display, 2. 24 “About the Building,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/about-the- building/ 25 “About the Building,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/about-the- building/ 26 Jilleen Nadolny, "The first century of published scientific analyses of the materials of historical painting and polychromy, circa 1780-1880," Reviews in Conservation (2003): 39-51. 27 Hamilton, Faraday: The Life, 375. 28 James Hamilton, Faraday: The Life. (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002), 375. 9 contributions to metallurgy.29 However, from the beginning of his career, he expressed interest in art and painting. His first job, an errand boy under George Riebau who ran a book binding shop, encouraged Faraday to read a variety of topics, including those related to art.30 He explored The

Repository of Arts and Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.31 In addition, Richard Cosway, a British painter who regularly visited Riebau’s shop, interacted with Faraday. He also met with other artists and scientists during this early employment.32 At the very least, these interactions exposed

Faraday to artistic context.

In his work on the Select Committee of the National Gallery, Faraday collaborated with painter William Russell and conservator John Ruskin to determine the causes of dirt and discoloration of the paintings.33 These individuals, all with different specialties, came together in order to better conserve and preserve British paintings, pieces of British culture and national heritage. The Committee determined that paintings decayed quickly for several reasons including

London’s sulfurous air, the volume of visitors, dirt from people’s shoes, residue from food and drink, and contamination from ventilator pipes.34

Faraday analyzed the chemical composition of the paintings and their contaminants. He determined that ammonia and sulfur vapors were the primary discoloration causes.35 Remedy suggestions included air conditioning as a temperature control and enclosing paintings in glass.36

Most on the Committee rejected the idea of placing the artwork behind glass because it would alter the museum-going experience. Instead, varnishes served as the primary protection

29 Hamilton, Faraday: The Life, 375. 30 Hamilton, Faraday: The LifeI, 7. 31 Hamilton, Faraday: The LifeI, 8. 32 Hamilton, Faraday: The Life, 15. 33 Norman Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery" Studies in Conservation 2, no. 4 (Oct 1956): 177. 34 Bromelle , "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 177. 35 Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 181. 36 Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 178. 10 technology. From his varnish experiments, Faraday claimed that a mastic varnish, a resin derived from plants, would completely protect the paint and act as a barrier against hydrogen sulfide and other fumes.37

In his work on the Committee and his discussions with Sir Charles Eastlake, the soon to be Gallery director, Faraday expressed the view that “a person of competent chemical knowledge, and a little acquainted also with the practice of painting in ancient and modern times might be valuably employed” at a museum. 38 However, the National Gallery did not embrace the employment of a full-time museum chemist until 1948, almost a century later.

In Germany, the approach was slightly different. Although Faraday was the first scientist to advise a museum, there was a higher participation rate of German scientists in art museum conservation, and, before the turn of the century, German museums began hiring full-time scientists as members of museum staff. In 1863, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich asked Max von

Pettenkofer, Bavarian Professor of Medicine and Chemistry, to investigate its restoration practices.39 Although Pettenkofer was not part of the museum staff, he acted as a regular consultant at the Alte Pinakothek.

Pettenkofer invented a new technique for rejuvenating decayed varnish.40 He, like

Faraday, prided himself on working in multiple fields and believed that a cross-disciplinary approach would contribute to social progress. As a result, he strived towards the application of chemistry in “every possible field of human endeavor.”41 In his first occupation, he worked as an

37 Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery," 184. 38 Michael Faraday in Bromelle, "Material for a History of Conservation. The 1850 and 1853 Reports on the National Gallery" 184. 39 Theodor Siegl, "Conservation," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 62, no. 291 (1966): 131. 40 Theodor Siegl, "Conservation," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 62, no. 291 (1966): 131. 41 Max von Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941), 2. 11 apprentice at the Royal Court Pharmacy and studied medicine.42 His interests spanned a wide range of industries including dentistry and public health. 43 Pettenkofer believed that these scientific applications, along with those in art restoration, “could be used as a measure of civilization.”44 This philosophy formed the foundation for the museum-scientist relationship.

Following Pettenkofer’s museum work in Munich, the Royal Museum of Berlin decided to hire a full time scientist to conserve and preserve its works.45 In 1888, the Museum hired

German chemist Dr. Friedrich Rathgen.46 Dr. Rathgen became the father of conservation science47 and published The Preservation of Antiques: A Handbook for Curators in 1905.48

Rathgen stated that he hoped to “stimulate the Curators of State, Municipal and Societies’

Collections.”49 His handbook acted as a crossover guide. Its publication demonstrated that the art world could, in fact, acquire massive gains with respect to preservation and conservation if it embraced a scientific approach. He noted that “a certain amount of chemical knowledge is assumed” but that the methods “may be readily carried out by those who are unfamiliar with chemical methods.”50 Such statements suggest that, while the foundation of chemistry was necessary in establishing conservation methods, the actual practice only required ability in understanding procedure; an academic process with which art historians were familiar.

Rathgen’s publication was the first of a series of conservation science publications that would soon penetrate the art world. However, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did

42 Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873, 2. 43 Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873, 5. 44 Pettenkofer, The Value of Health to a City: Two Lectures Delivered in 1873, 16. 45 Barbara H. Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 11 (2000): 398. 46 Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," 398. 47 Mark Gilberg, "Friedrich Rathgen: The Father of Modern Archaelogical Conservation," Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 26, no. 2 (1987): 105-120. 48 Berrie, "Fine Art Examination and Conservation," 398. 49 Friedrich Rathgen, The Preservation of Antiquities: A Handbook for Curators (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905), v. 50 Rathgen, The Preservation of Antiquities: A Handbook for Curators, vi. 12 not yet fully embrace the scientist as an art contributor. In Great Britain and the United States, art historians expressed skepticism towards scientists, notably chemists, who dabbled in the material analysis of paintings.

THE ART HISTORIAN VS. THE SCIENTIST

The delay in hiring full-time museum scientists largely stems from art history’s institutional setting. More specifically, as an academic discipline, art history is based on the evolution of academic traditions and frameworks which began with Giorgio Vesari’s Lives of the

Artists in the sixteenth century.51 The perspective of art historians relies on understanding the evolution of a piece through the relationship between the artist, the work, and the socio-political environment of the time of creation.52 Art historians also analyze the history of a work following its creation which includes questions of where it was displayed, whether or not it was purchased, and to what extent it received popular praise. Much of this investigation takes place within museums and art societies. Art historians are also responsible for choosing the layout of works in a museum and for displaying works of merit, ultimately voicing the universal opinion on art.53

Thus, resistance to hiring a full-time scientist and to establishing a museum science department partly originates in art history’s culture. When John Ruskin worked with Michael

Faraday on the Select Committee of the National Gallery, he was particularly irritated that

Faraday delved into the art world with minimal traditional training in this academic discipline.

Ruskin claimed that Faraday’s scientific expertise would not translate into the world of museums because he was not academically oriented toward art analysis.

51 Steve Edwards ed., Art and its Histories: A Reader (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 3. 52 Edwards, Art and its Histories: A Reader, 3. 53 Edwards, Art and its Histories: A Reader, 5. 13

Ruskin’s Modern Painters, his most famous work in which he defends British painter J.

M. W. Turner, sheds light upon his commitment to the academic study of art. He boasts “I have now given ten years of my life to the single purpose of enabling myself to judge rightly of art,”54 his ultimate goal being “to ascertain, and be able to teach, the truth respecting art.”55 This quest for “truth” is not unique to art research; it is universally sought after by academics. However,

Ruskin’s attachment to this discipline led to his frustration with those who had not devoted extensive time to the field but spoke as though they were well versed in the subject. He stated that “it is as ridiculous for anyone to speak positively about painting who has not given a great part of his life to its study, as it would be for a person who had never studied chemistry to give a lecture on affinities of elements.”56 His direct reference to chemistry suggests the tension between the two fields and that he viewed the academic intensity associated with each as separate but equal. His statements also indicate the exclusivity of art and science; that they are not interdisciplinary and that the skill sets involved in each study are not transferable. Ruskin staunchly opposed incorporating scientific opinion into the art world. However, he failed to recognize the benefits of scientific application.

In 1927, James Greig, an American art critic, expressed concerns similar to those of

Ruskin. He recounted the problems involved in a chemical analysis of artwork in the absence of an art expert. After observing a piece, he noticed that “on the body of the Virgin were splashes of crude colour wholly different in handling, age and harmony from that of the original painting.

That was absolutely apparent.”57 However, what was “absolutely apparent” to Greig was overlooked by the accompanying chemist who noted that the paints were “applied at the same

54 John Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3 (New York: John Wiley, 1863), vi. 55 Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3, vi. 56 Ruskin, Modern Painters. Of Many Things 3, vii. 57 James Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 51, no. 293 (1927): 102. 14 period.”58 According to Greig, the chemist was not versed in the anatomy of art and asked Greig, as an art expert, to “assist me in my work of detection.”59 Greig refused to assist the chemist.

This account took place before American scientists and art experts were working together in an interdisciplinary environment.

In the 1920s and 30s, art critics and art historians began writing pieces which demonstrated that scientific thought processes and practices were not so different from those of the art historian. William M. Ivins, Jr. of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wrote that the scientist, similar to the art historian, must consider facts when formulating a hypothesis, and that

“a fact unknown or overlooked can destroy the labor of a lifetime.”60 He further noted that a scientist must first assess that which exists in the “concrete” before reaching conclusions.

Mirroring this procedure, Ivins analyzed an Impressionist piece by Édouard Manet. Based on the body of works he had critiqued, he asserted that Manet imitated “the three figures in the lower right-hand corner of Marc Antonio’s Judgment of Paris.”61 In 1927, questions regarding the authenticity of a series of Dutch paintings on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art surfaced. Art critics and scientists, working separately, began investigating these claims. Art historians rely on precedents. They know hundreds upon thousands of artists, their works, their styles, and their stories. These are their facts and their evidence. They conduct research, they investigate, they form hypotheses, and they come to conclusions. This procedure takes place in many higher level academic disciplines.

While the specific skill set and context are considered distinct, the actual sequence of research and investigation spans across subjects that rely on understanding and applying theory.

58 Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," 102. 59 Greig, "The Forger and the Detective," 102. 60 Ivins, "Italian Renaissance Prints," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 18, no. 6 (1923): 150. 61 Ivins, "Italian Renaissance Prints," 150. 15

Arthur Pillans Laurie, chemistry professor and member of the Royal Academy of the Arts in

London analyzed the approach of each discipline. He noted that an art critic who uses his knowledge of pictures “may tell us that he is satisfied as to the authenticity of a picture because of its merits as a work of genius and because of its revealing the special style and methods of the artist.”62 According to Laurie, this approach, while widely accepted, can be erroneous. He suggested that a chemical examination of the painting can lead to alternate conclusions and that in a recent case “an X-ray photograph” revealed that the pigment of the paint and the construction of the canvas was actually much more modern and created in an entirely different period from what the art critic assumed.63 When the chemist is not involved, a surface conclusion based on “style and manner of painting” are the primary “facts.”

Laurie heavily supported the scientist’s participation in art examination with the help of the art historian. In fact, while the chemist can accurately determine forged signatures and pigment dating, he cannot “decide whether the picture is by a master or by one of his pupils.”64

Thus, he requires the wealth of knowledge from the art historian. Furthermore, Laurie stated that the art historian would be “foolish to dabble in an amateur way with scientific methods of identification.”65 Both examination approaches, artistic and scientific, demand extensive training.

The collaboration of the two fields can result in insightful conclusions when each party pledges to contribute. However, some art historians continued to resist scientific association.

The two fields did not mutually appreciate each other until the museum laboratory was established in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions. The laboratory, a formal scientific conservation department, was deemed necessary by the museum board, its trustees,

62 A. P. Laurie, A. L. Nicholson, and Hugh Blaker, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 50, no. 291 (1927): 342. 63 Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 342. 64 Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 342. 65 Laurie, "The Identification of Forged Pictures," 343. 16 and, most importantly, the government, as a means of preserving a nation’s most prized cultural items. Where the objective of a museum is to strive to conserve, preserve, and display art, the museum laboratory became necessary in realizing all three of these goals, especially in the years following World War I.

POST WWI MUSEUM LABORATORIES

In 1932, The Burlington Magazine declared that the examination of masterpieces should be “entrusted to a fully equipped and highly trained art scientist” who would provide additional data for the so-called “orthodox art expert.”66 The Magazine also indicated that, with respect to photographing and examining artwork, the scientist would communicate “whether X-ray or ultra- violet ray examination is advisable.”67 This declaration not only illustrated acceptance of scientific application but also that these applications would become necessary in art analysis. The popular declaration demonstrated a cultural shift in art history. However, this change in spirit was not a product of the art world. Instead, it arose as a post-war mentality. The international chaos of the Great War, or World War I, created a foundation in modern scientific application.

Art museums experienced this political atmosphere during and after the war. It was this atmosphere that mandated the creation of museum laboratories.

During WWI, American and British museums moved art into storage facilities in order to ensure the pieces would not be damaged within the museum building.68 Museum staff and government entities increasingly viewed museums as representations of national power and cultural history. As a result, they feared that these buildings would become cultural war targets.

66 “Scientific Examination of Old Masters,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 60 (May 1932): 261. 67 “Scientific Examination of Old Masters,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 60 (May 1932): 261. 68 “The Gallery in Wartime,” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/history/the-gallery- in-wartime/ 17

When the war ended and paintings and sculptures could return to their original sites, paintings were noticeably different. Storage facilities did not have proper temperature controls and, according to Faraday’s 1853 survey of the National Gallery, humidity affected pigments, canvases, and the rate of deterioration. In response to the damage, museums required in-house scientific consultations and often needed to bring works to formal laboratories.69

In 1919, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in London asked Dr.

Alexander Scott, former President of the Chemical Society, to investigate the conditions of

British Museum antiques that were stored in London’s underground transportation system during the war.70 The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research emerged as a government funded institution at the start of the war. The wartime advisory committee championed its foundation following the creation of the National Physical Laboratory which was established at the turn of the century.71 The Department was meant to investigate and participate in civil service activities while partnering with university science departments. 72

During the war, the fear that national relics might have undergone significant damage warranted government intervention. The existence of the Department of Scientific and Industrial

Research as a body oriented towards civil service made this form of museum government intervention plausible. In 1920, following Dr. Scott’s assessment of the antiques, a building separate from the British Museum’s physical site accommodated the British Museum

Laboratory.73 A group of scientists investigated damaged antiques and restoration methods and

69 A. E. Werner and R. M. Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," Sudies in Conservation 7, no. 3 (1962): 75. 70 Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75. 71 Frank M. Turner, "Public Science in Britain, 1880-1919," Isis 71, no. 4 (1980): 607. 72 Turner, "Public Science in Britain, 1880-1919," 607. 73 Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75. 18 brought many pieces back to display-worthy conditions.74 The Laboratory gained additional funding, moved into a larger building, and eventually became a permanent feature of the British

Museum. The collaborative effort involved in establishing the Museum Laboratory meant that other government departments and British cultural centers would regularly utilize the facility as an advanced civil service resource.

Across the Atlantic, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) was the first American museum to approve a laboratory. The MFA founded the laboratory in 1930 to contribute to the museum’s overall mission of “collecting, exhibiting, preserving, and interpreting” artwork.75

Divided into four departments, conservation, preparation, examination, and research, the laboratory prioritized based on the demand of the collection and environmental conditions.

During its first decade of operation, the laboratory focused on conservation, a necessary measure following WWI.76 However, the research department also began to delve into art examination beyond deterioration. Military developments in photography made this new realm of art examination possible. Subsequent commercial availability of these war technologies meant that such tools would eventually become permanent fixtures in museum laboratories.

During the war, research and development in camera lenses, chemical filters, and the electromagnetic spectrum created new expectations with respect to light, visibility, penetration, and attention to detail. The mobilization of photography research laboratories and the associated increase in funding indicated that the military required efficient and effective photographic tools.

Charles Edward Kenneth Mees, the first director of Kodak Research Laboratories, noted that before this military application, photography satisfied the artistic aspirations for those who “did

74 Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75. 75 Diggory Venn, "The Hidden Museum: An Account of the Services of the Staff of the Museum of Fine Arts," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 62 , no. 327 (1964): 5. 76 Venn, "The Hidden Museum: An Account of the Services of the Staff of the Museum of Fine Arts," 5. 19 not possess artistic talent.”77 It was not until the 1930s, when new developments in photography became commercially available at lower costs, that military and scientific techniques would enter the art world and find a home in museum laboratories.

WORLD WAR I AND THE RISE OF INFRARED PHOTOGRAPHY

In 1727, a German physician experimenting with chemical compounds and sun exposure developed the camera obscura, first instrument used for image capturing.78 During the second half of the eighteenth century, chemistry was the primary science associated with image capturing.79 However, World War I primarily utilized infrared photography which originated in astronomy, not chemistry. This astronomical discovery ushered in a new age of military strategy based on photography. It established a tactical advantage in image clarity and visibility.

Infrared is different from ultraviolet rays or X-rays because it penetrates certain materials, making them transparent in photographs. The wavelengths are longer than ultraviolet rays or X-rays, also invisible to the human eye and are longer than the wavelengths in the visible light spectrum.80 Infrared radiation breaks down into five categories: near infrared, short wavelength infrared, mid wavelength infrared, long wavelength infrared, and far infrared which range from shortest to longest wavelength, respectively.81 When applied to cameras, telescopes, and microscopes, infrared filters can see through natural and synthetic organic surfaces.

Transparent natural organic products include gelatin, cellulose, chitin, all of which are animal proteins and are active ingredients in some painting varnishes. Rubber, shellac, resins, ebonite,

77 C. E. Kenneth Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research (Rochester, New York: Eastman Kodak Company, 1961), 1. 78 Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 2. 79 Mees, From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 2. 80 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 13. 81 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 13. 20 wood, and some inks are also transparent under infrared.82 One noteworthy material impenetrable to infrared light is carbon black, an ink commonly used by artists to create drawings and sketches before applying paint to canvas.83

Understanding the crossover of infrared technology into the military world and later into the art world requires an analysis of the evolution of infrared’s discovery and application.

Infrared wavelengths were discovered accidentally in 1800 by Sir William Herschel,84 but the radiation was not used in photography until 1880.85 During a solar observation session, Herschel noticed that his glasses and telescope became warm when he observed red portions of the solar spectrum, the longest wavelengths of visible light.86 As a result, Herschel concluded that the spectrum extended beyond the visible spectrum and shifted to invisible heat.87

Infrared light underwent over half a century of investigation before practical application.

In 1814, Joseph von Fraunhofer discovered absorption lines, now known as Fraunhofer lines, in the sun’s spectrum and revealed that the visible spectrum could be disrupted by reflection.88

Around the same period, Sir John Herschel, William Herschel’s son, began experimenting with photography and red rays which would later be called photochemistry. He discovered that the

82 Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 361. 83 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 21. 84 Herschel, like other astronomers and scientists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, explored disciplines outside scientific academia. He was deeply involved in music and worked as a composer. In fact, his interest in wavelengths originated in his aspiration to understand the sounds of musical instruments. See Sime, Herschel and his Work, 155-7. 85 James Sime, Herschel and his Work (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 155-7. 86 William Herschel, “Experiments on the Solar, and on the Terrestrial Rays that Occasion Heat: With a Comparative View of the Laws to Which Light and Heat, or Rather the Rays Which Occasion Them, are Subject, in Order to Determine Whether they are the Same, or Different. Part II,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1800): 437-538. 87 E. Scott Barr, "The Infrared Pioneers--I. Sir William Herschel," Infrared Physics 1, (1961): 1-4. 88 H. W. Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone (New York: The Chemical Publishing Company, 1941), 14. 21 rays could reduce or reverse a printout image onto a silver chloride paper which was coined as the Herschel effect.89

Infrared’s ultimate application in the art world did not occur until after its application as a military technology. This delay was not solely the result of limited commercial availability.

Beginning in the 1850s with Faraday’s participation in the Select Committee for the National

Gallery, museums understood that they had a stake in scientific developments. However, the application of these developments and a scientist’s willingness to apply them relies on his fundamental understanding of a specific discovery and its features. Thus, the delay in military and eventually art utilization of infrared radiation from the time of discovery was a consequence of the time lag involved in understanding potential non-astronomical infrared applications.

The first intentional utilization of infrared in photography occurred in the late 1870s when Captain William Abney photographed up to 10,000 Å90 wavelength and published a map of the infrared region of the solar spectrum ranging from 7,160 Å to 10,000 Å. Abney presented elements of his research to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1880. The president of the society praised Captain Abney, stating that “the subject brought to our notice by Captain Abney is one of extreme importance because at the present day we know the great value of recording the lines of the solar spectrum and the bright lines of the elements.”91 The importance the president was referring to was that of visualizing the invisible spectrum.

In addition, Abney’s application marked the first color mapping, a system in which colors could be identified with numbers.92 In the second half of the twentieth century the color-number

89 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 15. 90 Å stands for angstrom and is a unit of length associated with 10-10 meters. 91 “Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” Astronomical register 14 (1876): 85-6. 92 Ivars Peterson, "Paint by Digit," Science News 122, no. 20 (1982) : 314-315. 22 system would revolutionize art digitization and analysis.93 In labeling the colors, Abney stated that “the indigo as 15, the green might be put down as 10, the yellow as 5, and A as 1.”94 This number system corresponded with minutes of exposure and allowed for further investigation of chemical elements. The president of the Royal Astronomical Society also expressed excitement, stating that “I can hardly speak too strongly of the importance of this discovery in connection with the great advance…in spectroscopy.95”96 In 1912, R. W. Wood, Johns Hopkins University

Physics Professor, was the first to take infrared photographs of the Moon. 97 In 1916 he applied the same method of photography to Jupiter and Saturn.98 1912 was also the year Kodak Research

Laboratories was founded in Rochester, New York under Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees.

In addition to astronomical infrared photography, the 1880s also saw a rise in the manufacturing of photographic materials.99 Wratten & Wainwright, one of the first companies to produce these materials, was founded in 1877 in London. In 1880, the same year Captain Abney presented his spectral map, George Eastman founded the Kodak Company on the basis of selling gelatin plates to professional photographers in Rochester. The two companies would merge in

1912 when Mr. Eastman bought Wratten & Wainwright and appointed Dr. Mees, a former

Wratten director, to act as the head of Kodak Research Laboratories.

93 Andrea Casini, Franco Lotti, Marcello Picollo, Lorenzo Stefani, and Ezio Buzzegoli, "Image Spectroscopy Mapping Technique for Non-Invasive Analysis of Paintings," Studies in Conservation 44, no. 1 (1999): 39-48. 94 “Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” 86. 95 Spectroscopy, the mapping of the electromagnetic spectrum, would become extremely important in art applications of infrared. 96 “Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society,” 87. 97 W. H. Wright, "Photographs of Mars Made with Light of Different Colors," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 36, no. 213 (1924): 240. 98 W. H. Wright, "Photographs of Mars Made with Light of Different Colors," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 36, no. 213 (1924): 240. 99 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 12. 23

Dr. Mees led the Eastman Kodak Company to produce improved plates for spectroscopic and astronomical work.100 Traditionally trained chemists focused on enhancing sensitivity and speed in photographic plate development, both considered to be a photographer’s primary concerns. Dr. Mees declared that Kodak would “be in a position not only to make its own materials for investigation but to make experimental materials on a comparatively large scale.”101

From a military perspective, this foundation of scale was vital, especially in a field that would contribute to the war effort.

In its first decade, Kodak Research Laboratories focused research in its physics department. The experiments dealt with photometry, sensitometry, or the study of plate sensitivity to light, spectroscopy, and colorimetry, all fields that relate to the eye’s sensitivity to color and the accuracy of color and material reproduction.102 The department initially used visible light and ultraviolet spectroscopes. X-ray technologies were the next form of invisible light filtration to be introduced into the Kodak Research Laboratories.103 Infrared spectroscopy was still undeveloped in photography’s manufacturing industry. However, government involvement in the industry would generate its introduction into the commercial market.

The leading physicists at Kodak’s lab were former members of the National Bureau of

Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is “to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”104 In April

1917, Kodak Research Laboratories also committed to this mission as the United States declared

100 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 44. 101 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 44. 102 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 45. 103 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 48. 104 “NIST General Information,” http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/general_information.cfm 24 war on Germany.105 The National Defense Council, the Science and Research Department of the

Army, and the Bureau of Aircraft Production partnered with Eastman Kodak to maximize the value of photography during the war effort.106 Physicists from the Laboratories were asked to provide information and training sessions in aerial photography, and between 1917 and 1918,

Kodak devoted the majority of its time and resources to these military concerns.107

These efforts harnessed the same methods of Dr. Wood and other astrophysicists, methods used to analyze the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn between 1912 and 1916. Scholars from the period noted that “photographic methods were employed in the recent war to an extent never known before in military history.”108 The “methods” involved infrared aerial photography and provided critical visual information from various strategic viewpoints. Eastman Kodak

Company offered non-commercial color-sensitive plates for the military’s scientific investigation in photography. The company manufactured and distributed emulsions still under experimentation specifically for war work.109 Similarly, the Cramer Dry Plate Company, another photography institute, produced infrared plates as a special military product. 110 During the war, the Science and Research Division of the Bureau of Aircraft Production handled the manufacturing of photosensitizing dyes which could be applied to photographic plates in order filter colors and materials of a given image.111

The government “under the stress of a great emergency, acknowledged its [infrared photography’s] value and supplied it with funds as never before.”112 The infrared military

105 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 55. 106 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 55. 107 Mees, Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research, 57. 108 Paul W. Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 32, no. 185 (1920): 17. 109 Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 19. 110 Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 19. 111 Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 22. 112 Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 16. 25

“value” was its ability to penetrate atmospheric haze and short wavelength reflections. In doing so, infrared photographs not only took clearer images that were less distorted, but also allowed for higher quality distance photography. Such advances were necessary in the context of aerial photography as a military strategy. Infrared film would provide critical knowledge in locating military units through the haze and identifying individuals wearing camouflage.113

Immediately following World War I, the investigation of sensitizing agents in order to improve resolution and detail in infrared photography came to the forefront of physics and astronomy. In 1920, Paul W. Merrill, a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific published a piece entitled “Progress in Photography Resulting from the War.” He noted that military authorities allowed for “the publication of a great deal of material of general interest”114 which sparked scientific, medical, and eventually art applications. In 1922, chemists applied infra-red spectroscopy extensively in their study of molecular structures and organic substances.115 It was also used to discover new stars and to determine temperatures of cooler stars. Stars which were not detectable through the popular telescopes of the time were likely obscured by atmospheric haze and nebular haze. In addition, infrared photography contributed to understanding planetary atmospheres. In the 1920s, Mars was under specific examination because of questions related to whether or not life existed on the planet. Astronomers, physicists, and chemists determined that Mars lacked the oxygen required to support life, squashing hypotheses and fears that there were living beings in outer space.116 Examining Venus under infrared drew the same conclusions and revealed that the planet was extremely rich in carbon

113 Walter Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1939), 262. 114 Merrill, "Progress in Photography Resulting from the War," 16. 115 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 80. 116 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 84. 26 dioxide.117 Observing Jupiter and Saturn with the filter indicated their composition primarily of ammonia and methane. These atmospheric observations illustrate that astronomers were not only collecting data but also answering larger questions about the universe.

In 1924, the Lick Observatory took photographs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and other mountain ranges with infrared photography and revealed clarity that had never before been seen.118 In 1927, H. M. Randall from the University of Michigan’s Department of Physics published “Infrared Spectroscopy” and noted that information from the infrared spectra is “not only worthy of our endeavor but necessary for the development of the theories of band spectra and the related problems of molecular structure.”119 In 1928, Eastman Kodak released

Panchromatic K, the first infrared negative film.120 Panchromatic plates, as advertised by the

Wratten division of Eastman Kodak, were supposed to supply “a far more truthful photograph” with respect to color perception.121 Thus, infrared technology not only remedied problems associated with image clarity but also enhanced knowledge of the universe and the physical environment. Understanding and publicizing these valuable features of infrared radiation would broaden its post-war application.

COMMERCIAL INFRARED

In 1930, Kodak declared infrared as modern photography, and in 1931, infrared plates were placed on the commercial market by Eastman Kodak in the United States, by Ilford Limited in Great Britain, and by Agfa in Germany.122 In 1933, Olaf F. Bloch, President of the Royal

117 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 85. 118 H. M. Randall, "Infra-red Spectroscopy." Science 65, no. 1677 (Feb. 18, 1927): 173. 119 H. M. Randall, "Infra-red Spectroscopy." Science 65, no. 1677 (Feb. 18, 1927): 173. 120 “Material Name: infrared film,” BFA (see notes) 121 “Wratten Panchromatic Plates,” Kodak Limited (Wratten Division), Kingsway, London (1918). 122 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 19. 27

Photographic Society and scientist at Ilford Laboratories, published “Recent Developments in

Infrared Photography” in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. After summarizing the discovery and history of infrared photography, he enthusiastically stated that “two new infra-red sensitizers have been synthesized by Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory.”123 At the same time,

Bloch’s Ilford Research Laboratories, in Essex, had also released a new dye which enabled higher speed infrared photography and cleaner processing.

However, infrared’s characteristics were not always accurately interpreted. Even after over a century of research and investigation, “haze penetration” was not a universal term; it meant something very different for aerial photographers than it did for photographers at sea.

Seamen wrongly believed that infrared photography could penetrate fog which is much thicker and denser than atmospheric haze. 124 They thought that is would be revolutionary in navigation as captains and crew members would know exactly what was ahead of them in the waters.

Nonetheless, this proved to be false, and infrared application was much better suited for aerial photography and long distance landscape photography. 125

Infrared’s ability to cut out all ultraviolet light which often causes haze in photographs was one of its most attractive and most valuable features in long distance and aerial photography.126 Images were clearer and more detailed because the atmospheric dust and haze did not interfere with the infrared spectrum. After WWI, Captain A.W. Stevens took photographs from an elevation of 23,000 feet, the first photographs of their kind. He observed mountains, streams, lakes, and people with higher contrast.127 The U.S. Army Air Corps used Stevens’

123 Olaf F. Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 81, no. 4185 (Feb. 3, 1933): 264. 124 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 20. 125 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 20. 126 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 44. 127 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 19. 28 images as a means of enhancing knowledge of the composition of the ground and in supplementing maps which were old, outdated, or lacked proper information.128 Thus, even with its commercial availability, the military continued to use the technology as a means of enhancing knowledge about environmental terrain.

In his state of enthusiasm, Bloch lists the various fields that could benefit from the new infrared based on its absorptive and transmissive properties. He explicitly highlights document analysis in that infrared would enhance the “method of procedure dealing with erasures, blacking out, over-writing and supposed forgeries.”129 Although paintings were not mentioned in this initial survey of potential infrared applications, the mention of overwriting and forgeries in document investigation signaled potential in art investigation.

Bloch additionally emphasized infrared use in portraiture, noting that infrared portraits are “far from flattering” because they reveal underlying hair and human features that most individuals prefer to conceal.130 However, the method could be used in medicine as a means of penetrating scabs, viewing skin treatment progress, and detecting skin infections. It was also used to observe superficial veins. In ophthalmology, infrared photography was applied in order to examine the iris of eyes which had turned opaque.131 Along with these new applications, the more established methods in astronomy and aerial photography all indicate that the medium

“makes hitherto invisible things visible.”132

Thus, infrared employment could now go beyond the military and academic spheres of astronomy and physics. Eastman Kodak provided the largest number and variety of infrared materials in the United States and put out several publications informing the “amateur” on its

128 Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 258. 129 Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," 271. 130 Bloch, "Recent Developments in Infra-red Photography," 271. 131 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 89. 132 “Iodine: Mystery Story,” Journal of the Royal Society of the Arts 94, no. 4717 (May 10, 1946): iii. 29 applications. The Chemical Publishing Company published one such handbook entitled Infrared for Everyone. H. W. Greenwood, the author, stated that “infra-red is a scientific tool which the amateur can use with success” as long as he is well versed in its proper application.133 He noted that “its greatest sphere of usefulness is in differentiating objects which appear alike to the human eye,”134 a critical differentiation in art investigation.

While infrared photography publications by Eastman Kodak Company hinted at possible art applications, the infrastructure of a museum laboratory was a primary requirement. As a result, the widespread museum mobilization of infrared photography, spectroscopy, and reflectography required, first and foremost, an established museum science department. Under the precedent of infrastructure, infrared allowed for discovery below the surface, a feature valued by professionals in disciplines ranging from the military to medicine and from astronomy to art.

INFRARED APPLIED TO ART

In 1939, Walter Clark published Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and

Applications with Kodak Research Laboratories. He stated that “the photography will be able to apply the subject intelligently to the varied problems which present themselves.”135 Clark’s didactic tone in his broad and grandiose overview of infrared and its origins, similar to that of

Olaf F. Bloch, once again indicated the importance of the technology. His work opened with “in all stages of civilization man has recognized the benefits of light and heat.”136 He continued to emphasize the importance of the foundation of science in understanding the properties of light

133 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone , 40. 134 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 44. 135 Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, ix. 136 Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 1. 30 and that such knowledge is necessary and essential in “our interest to its close relative, the infrared.”137

In 1941, ten years after infrared photography materials became commercially available, literature surfaced suggesting that infrared photography be used in photographing artwork.138 An understanding of the chemical composition of varnishes which were often discolored and dirty revealed that infrared photography could penetrate the material and provide insight into the original work.139 An infrared guide from the period stated that “in general, oils, varnishes, gums and waxes are transparent to infra-red” and suggested applying this technology to “old pictures, antiques” and other historical items. Thus, the MFA, the British Museum, and other museum laboratories established new areas of focus in research, examination, and detailed analysis of paintings with infrared radiation.

Kodak’s infrared promotion also consisted of paint classification according to pigment reactions to infrared light. This assessment divided paints into three categories based on their appearance under infrared radiation. Specifically, water and oil-based paints can appear black, grey, or white when exposed to infra-red photography. Colors that photograph as black include blues and blacks which contain carbon black, iron, bronze, or ivory. Those which photograph as grey are greens, browns, and light red iron oxides. Paints of white photographic appearance are most commonly yellows and blues other than iron blues but also include all colors not listed in the previous two sections.140

Infrared’s ability to clearly categorize paints according to their color and chemical composition marks its importance in the art world. The 1941 infrared handbook noted that

137 Clark, Photography by Infrared: Its Principles and Applications, 1. 138 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 44. 139 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 44. 140 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 53. 31

“[t]here are few great galleries today which do not include equipment for infra-red photography”.141 Infrared photography became pivotal in analyzing old masterpieces and historical works which had been damaged or were covered in thick layers of varnish. Art historians and conservators appreciated the technology largely because it allowed for observation and investigation without physically touching the subject of interest. 142 Investigating a painting’s authenticity and understanding the condition of the paintwork under the varnish are extremely valuable in interpreting an artist’s creation process and the context in which he worked. Infrared had the capacity to detect “forgeries and sophistications in supposed old masters.”143 It would also reveal underlying sketches, additions to the painting, and possible damages and changes in the painting.

Infrared photography was most widely applied to old paintings because in modern paintings, the clarity of varnish lends most investigation to the human eye. Its concurrent use with X-rays, microscopy, and micro-chemical analysis further enhanced the understanding of old paintings and their artists. The 1940s recognized infrared as “a new and potent weapon to the armoury of the art expert.”144 This active scientific integration demonstrated the art world’s collective acknowledgement of the potential for scientific contributions. A gallery was only great when it knew how to apply scientific techniques. However, its widespread use in museum laboratories did not take place until after World War II which corresponded with a significant political shift in astronomy: the rise of National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), Jet

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other national and international space organizations.

141 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 53. 142 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 54. 143 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 54. 144 Greenwood, Infra-Red for Everyone, 54. 32

Subsequently, the post World War II museum period marks a second wave in the rise of the museum laboratory and a new era of international astronomy.

JPL, NASA, AND POST WORLD WAR II MUSEUM LABORATORIES

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began as the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory,

California Institute of Technology (GALCIT) in 1936.145 Immediately following World War II, it was renamed Jet Propulsion Laboratory and partnered with the Amy Ordinance Corps to research missile technology.146 In 1945, the United States launched Operation Paperclip, a project dedicated to recruiting German engineers, collecting parts of V-2 rockets, and understanding the German mechanisms underlying rocket guidance and navigation.147 Before

1945, American space research took place at the Naval Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins’s

Applied Physics Laboratory, General Electric, Harvard University, Princeton University,

University of Michigan, and the Signal Corp.148

In the years following this second war, the United States took a different approach by establishing a single administrative body solely devoted to aeronautics and space. Although

President Woodrow Wilson formally created the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

(NACA) in 1915 as a World War I emergency measure,149 the Committee did not begin experimenting with rockets and working with JPL until 1946.150 In 1958, President Dwight D.

145 Clayton R. Koppes, JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 2-3. 146 Koppes, JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2-3. 147Roger E. Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990 (Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1989), 36. 148Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons, 2. 149 Roger E. Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990 (Washington, D. C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1989), 4. 150 Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990, 38-9. 33

Eisenhower renamed the Committee the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and restructured it in order to better serve the objectives associated with the looming Space Race.151

The founding of NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory indicated that the government prioritized the space program in funding and technological advances. The United States’ international reputation relied on its ability to explore space, a region not yet claimed or occupied by any nation.

Concurrently with the rise of NASA, museum laboratories increased in number, size and scientific capacity following World War II and during the Cold War. These newer and bigger labs surfaced internationally and were often government funded. Now that museums embraced a foundation of science in preservation and conservation, this second wave of museum laboratories began with efforts to protect national and international cultural heritage and expanded towards further understanding this heritage.

During World War II, in the same spirit as World War I, museums put their collections in storage hoping to save valuable pieces from destruction. The period was characterized by national and international fear that states and their history would be destroyed. When the war ended and collections were removed from storage, scientific advising for proper restoration methods would once again ensure that pieces were cared for and displayed in a protected environment. In 1959, the journal Studies in Conservation launched an eight-part series entitled

“Conservation Studios and Laboratories” in order to celebrate this second wave and increase museum laboratory awareness in the art world. The final piece was published in 1967.152 The series highlighted the evolution of eight museum laboratories, most of which were founded in

151 Bilstein, Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990, 47-8. 152 Rolf E. Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8: The Laboratory and the Courses of Study for Conservators at the Institut für Technologie der Malerei, Stuttgart," Studies in Conservation 12, no. 4 (Nov. 1967) : 147-157. 34

1945, immediately following the end of World War II. Studies in Conservation also included the

British Museum’s renovated laboratory nearly fifty years after its founding as the world’s first museum laboratory. The British Museum’s new laboratory employed a core staff of seven working scientists but also worked with individuals outside of the museum organization.153

In 1960, William Bousted published his piece in the series on the New South Wales Art

Gallery in Australia. The laboratory focused heavily on conservation techniques because of its humid environment, lack of air conditioning units, and the treatment of works during the war.

The laboratory’s opening came as the result of the Japanese invasion during World War II.

Bousted noted that the “panic” involved in storing these paintings meant that many were “ripped from their frames and piled cheek by jowl ready for instant dispatch to some remote sanctuary in the Australian bush.”154 While these actions saved the paintings from the political threats of the war, the resulting damage meant that conservation efforts were not only important but necessary in restoring and displaying the works. The laboratory was centrally located in the New South

Wales Art Gallery, most likely for easy transport of paintings from display rooms to examination tables. The photomicrography department utilized infrared and ultraviolet photography.155

Paintings were also studied in the government Health Department, further demonstrating that conservation efforts and examination were not isolated in the museum laboratory.156

In 1945, the Swiss National Museum acted as “a nucleus for a central laboratory which would consider the needs of other museums.”157 The museum hired a laboratory assistant in

153 Werner and Organ, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 6: The New Laboratory of the British Museum," 75. 154 William Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," Studies in Conservation 5, 4 (Nov. 1960): 121. 155 Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," 129. 156 Bousted, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 3: The Conservation Department of the New South Wales Art Gallery, Australia," 130. 157 Bruno Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," Studies in Conservation 7, no. 2 (May 1962): 38. 35 order to move conservation “towards a solid scientific base” while serving the larger cultural heritage community.158 The laboratory, headed by a chemist from the Faculty of Science of the

Federal Institute of Technology, made radio carbon dating and infrared spectroscopy accessible to other European museums, most notably those in Germany and Italy.159 The Conservation

Laboratory of the National Museum in New Delhi, India, also featured in the series, was founded on similar grounds. The devices in this museum were similar to those in the Swiss National

Museum and included microscopes, photo-analysis tools, and chemical examination tables and scales.160 The museum felt that the conservation in the National Museum required a scientific foundation and hired a chemist to lead the Laboratory in 1957.161

At the Institut fur Technologie der Malerei in Stuttgart, Germany, the laboratory’s mission was reframed in 1949. Its physics laboratory housed some of the most advanced examination tools which included but were not limited to an X-ray apparatus, an Infrared viewing screen, ultraviolet and infrared photography, and a Xenon lamp for colorimetry.162 As an independent research institution, the laboratory was not attached to a specific museum, but its investigations on artistic materials and conservation would benefit German art museums.163 The lab focused on the examination of important paintings, including those of Dutch artist

Rembrandt.164 The laboratory also emphasized a teaching program for picture restoration.165

158 Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," 35. 159 Mühlethaler, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 5: The Research Laboratory of the Swiss National Museum at Zürich," 42. 160 O. P. Agrawal, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 7: The Conservation Laboratory of the National Museum , New Delhi," Studies in Conservation 8, no. 3 (Aug. 1963): 99-105. 161 Agrawal, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 7: The Conservation Laboratory of the National Museum , New Delhi," 99-105. 162 Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 148. 163 Rolf E. Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8: The Laboratory and the Courses of Study for Conservators at the Institut für Technologie der Malerei, Stuttgart," Studies in Conservation 12 , no. 4 (Nov. 1967): 147. 164 Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 147. 36

In the same Studies in Conservation series, Selim Augusti highlighted the Museo e

Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy as “one of the most up-to-date museums in the world.”166 Augusti’s laboratory opened in 1957 and was divided into three departments: restoration, scientific analysis, and photographic recording and examination. The “Scientific

Laboratory” was further divided into physico-chemical research, microscopy, and technical work.167 The museum was heavily equipped with monocular and binocular microscopes, usually used in the examination of painting and artifact cracking. The lab also utilized the “microscopio universale Galileo” for general observation of details.168 Work in the technical laboratory consisted of varnish preparation, work that is now particularly important for the coating and protection of newly restored or acquired paintings. What made the laboratory exceptionally “up- to-date” was its “equipment for examination by special radiation” which consisted of an infrared lamp, an ultraviolet lamp, and an X-ray apparatus.169

The Freer Gallery was the only American museum laboratory covered in the series. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution and partners with other institutes in Washington, D.C.

Museum director Archibald G. Wenley championed the creation of the Freer Gallery Laboratory for Technical Studies in Oriental Art and Archaeology immediately following the war and began publishing technical findings in 1952.170 According to the laboratory’s floor plan, primary modes of light examination involved ultra-violet and X-ray technology. The photomicrographic camera employed infrared technology and maintained a record of each work. The laboratory also lent its

165 Straub, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 8,” 148 . 166 Selim Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1: The Conservation Laboratory of the Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples." Studies in Conservation 4, no. 3 (Aug. 1959): 88. 167 Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1,” 93. 168 Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1,” 93. 169 Augusti, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 1,” 94. 170 Rutherford J. Gettens, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 2: The Freer Gallery Laboratory for Technical Studies in Oriental Art and Archaeology," Studies in Conservation 4, no. 4 (Nov. 1959): 140. 37 services to the National Bureau of Standards, the Division of Mineralogy of the U.S. National

Museum, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Food and Drug Administration.171 The cross- employment of research tools and methods indicates national cooperation and that research and investigation, with respect to materials, is interdisciplinary.

These museum laboratories illustrate that conservation and research overlap with national and international efforts of maintaining society’s prized possessions, a commitment that expands beyond the walls of a museum. All of these institutions prioritized, first and foremost, a conservation foundation before implementing new investigative tools. When radiation equipment was introduced in the late 1950s, the technology was not reserved solely for museum use. In fact, the high cost associated with these tools meant that they were partially owned by the government, as indicated in the case of the Freer Gallery laboratory. This state involvement and technological expansion meant that the museum scientist now had the resources to explore analysis beyond the preservation of paint and canvas.

Subsequently, conservators became well versed in applying chemical conservation techniques. Chemists who formerly investigated the environmental factors that could damage paintings and employed restoration methods were now replaced with these conservators. Where chemistry became a fully integrated museum discipline, physics and radiation technologies were still reserved for traditionally trained physicists. Thus, the overall goals of scientist involvement in museums grew to include art analysis through radiation which was not associated with conservation or preservation.172 Instead, this analysis was more geared toward further contextualizing paintings for the art historian. They refocused their energies and began to assist

171 Gettens, "Conservation Studios and Laboratories 2,” 142. 172 James R. Druzik, David L. Glackin, Donald L. Lynn, and Raim Quiros, "The Use of Digital Image Processing to Clarify the Radiography of Underpainting," Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 22, no. 1 (1982): 49- 56. 38 art historians in interpreting the artist’s story, the presence of underdrawings, and potential forgeries.

SCIENTISTS, TECHNOLOGIES, AND ART ANALYSIS

In 1963, two Eastman Kodak sales employees published a work on the progress of infrared luminescence in the Studies in Conservation, the same journal that published the series on museum laboratories. The authors advertised that “the most valuable applications of infrared luminescence photography could well be in the examination of paintings under a thick varnish” which could not be done with ultraviolet radiation.173 Although physicists and astronomers were fully aware of this application, art historians were not yet versed in infrared. Thus, the Studies in

Conservation article would circulate in the art world and act as an introduction and as a sales pitch for Kodak’s Retina Reflex III Camera which uses “35mm Kodak High Speed Infrared

Film.”174

J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer was the first to investigate art using infrared reflectograms, a recording of reflected infrared radiation.175 De Boer majored in experimental physics at the

Municipal University of Amsterdam and joined the military. He later joined the Central Research

Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science and worked as the editor of the Studies in

Conservation journal. In 1968 he published “Infrared Reflectography: a Method for the

Examination of Paintings” in Applied Optics as an introduction to improved techniques in

173 Charles F. Bridgman and H. Lou Gibson, “Infrared Luminescence in the Photographic Examination of Paintings and Other Art Objects,” Studies in Conservation 8, no. 3 (Aug. 1963): 77. 174 Bridgman and Gibson, “Infrared Luminescence in the Photographic Examination of Paintings and Other Art Objects,” 88. 175 Berrie, “Fine Art Examination and Conservation,” 400. 39 examining underdrawings.176 In 1969, de Boer published “Reflectography of Paintings Using an

Infrared Vidicon Television System” as a longer, more involved piece explaining the proper application and analysis involved in using the new technology. The Vidicon was developed in the 50s and used by NASA to scan and capture images of space in real time from their unmanned spacecrafts.177 By 1966, de Boer applied the Vidicon system to panel paintings. The scanning system, which was made commercially available in the mid 60s,178 allowed for images to appear immediately on a monitor screen which would be photographed by a monitor-sensitive camera.179 The enlarged images would then need to be assembled for full painting analyses. The paintings were exposed to infrared radiation for a few seconds in order to avoid overheating of the pigments, and videotape recording was used for reflectogram storage.

De Boer praised the Vidicon system for its speed, ease of operation, recording of details, and comparatively low cost. These features were extremely valuable in the reflectography of paintings.180 De Boer’s image samples came from the Netherlands and Belgium. Interpreting the infrared photographs and reflectograms required reflectance formula calculations and thickness formula calculations, both of which he outlined in the paper.181 Obtaining the physical infrared photograph would not provide the answers, and further scientific and mathematical analysis was particularly important in properly interpreting the reflectogram data. Thus, de Boer championed collaboration between the Statistical Department of the Mathematical Centre in Amsterdam, the

Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, and museums and art historians.

176 J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, “Inrared Reflectography: a Method for the Examination of Paintings” Applied Optics (1968): 1711. 177 Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope, 46. 178 Elizabeth Walmsley, Catherine Metzger, John K. Delaney, and Colin Fletcher. "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," Studies in Conservation 39, no. 4 (1994): 217. 179 J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” Studies in Conservation (1969): 107. 180 De Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” 109. 181 De Boer, “Reflectography of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television System,” 107. 40

Following de Boer’s analysis, researchers at Amsterdam’s Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science focused their energies towards infrared spectroscopy, the study of radiated energy associated with infrared radiation.182 In 1970, Emilie Helena van‘t Hul-Ehrnreich specialized in this study in order to obtain unambiguous results in analyzing old paintings. She used the Perkin-Elmer microscope to investigate and assess paint spectrums. She worked at the

Physical Laboratories of the Philips Factories of Eindhoven in the Netherlands and the Technical

University of Eindhoven before joining the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art.183

Highly trained physicists and chemists who had contributed to efforts in the Cold War began applying their skill sets to art analysis.

The Nd: YAG184 laser, a laser developed in 1964, emits infrared radiation. It was developed at Bell Laboratories and used for distance approximations and target designation.185

Bell Laboratories researched and produced a wide range of technologies related to radio astronomy, and astrophotography. In fact, the company is responsible for inventing the charge- coupled device (CCD) which is the foundation for digital photography and high definition space images.186 Under the leadership of James B. Fisk, Bell Labs developed the first communications satellite and established systems engineering for the Apollo Space Program.187 This was the peak of the Space Race and a moment of American triumph. It also established a foundation of

182 E. H. van't Hul-Ehrnreich, "Infrared Microspectroscopy for the Analysis of Old Painting Materials," Studies in Conservation 15, no. 3 (Aug. 1970): 181. 183 Hul-Ehrnreich, "Infrared Microspectroscopy for the Analysis of Old Painting Materials," 181. 184 Nd: YAG stands for neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet which is a crystal. The laser emits infrared light with a wavelength of 10640 Å. See note 180. 185 “Nd: YAG laser, diode pumped YAG laser system, and green YAG Laser module,” CrystaLaser. http://www.yag- laser.us/ 186 “Charge Coupled Device,” Alcatel-Lucent (2006-2012): http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/belllabs (accessed Oct. 2012) 187 "Bell Labs Presidents: James B. Fisk, 1959-1973," Alcatel-Lucent (2006-2012) http://www.alcatel- lucent.com/wps/portal/belllabs 41 imaging technology and lasers that physicists would use after the race in other research endeavors.

Dr. John Asmus was the first to apply the Nd: YAG laser to art conservation following his involvement in Cold War research. Dr. Asmus received a Ph.D. from Caltech in Quantum

Electronics and Physics.188 He worked at the United States Naval Ordnance Laboratory, went to

Copenhagen to monitor Soviet ICBM launches and nuclear explosions during the Cold War and then began working on Project ORION. He also discovered one of Leonardo da Vinci’s lost paintings, the pearl necklace beneath the surface of the Mona Lisa, and new marble cleaning methods. When asked about his transition into the art world, Dr. Asmus explained that “In my spare time I travelled all over Europe visiting museums and developing a love for classical art.”189 In 1968, he worked as an advisor for the Defense Department’s laser program and headed the National Laser Program. His work in holographic laser recordings and a suggestion from a geophysicist colleague led Asmus into the world of art conservation. He is now considered one of the world’s leading conservation scientists.190

1972 was his first ever research project in art conservation and dealt with crumbling

Venetian marble sculptures. He received endorsements from a Nobel Prize winner in physics, the president of American company TRW, and several scientists.191 Asmus applied what he had learned during his work in Project ORION, specifically related to the laser frequency and radiation that would be appropriate for certain materials. In the 1970s, NASA had trouble with

188 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 189 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 190 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 191 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 42 funding, and, after failed launches, the agency began cutting projects and partnering with institutes in Europe in order to cut costs.192 While Asmus stated that his interest in the art world originated with his time in Europe, other physicists working in government Cold War research lost funding for their projects and looked for occupations that met their specialized skill set. 193

This established a model for advanced conservation work as an international, interdisciplinary, and interdepartmental effort.

Art museums around the world began implementing radiation technologies and endorsing physicists to perform research that would answer questions about artists and historical objects that had never before been answerable. Universities, museum laboratories, government institutions and even motion picture studios194 carried out and supported these projects in order to answer questions about society and its most significant artists. All of these institutions maintained a strong foundation in infrastructure; they all placed value in acquiring knowledge, understanding context, and institutional pride. Throughout the 70s, art analyses and research papers on pigment materials were published by physicists, chemists, and fine arts students all of whom collaborated with individuals in fields outside of their own expertise.195

Joan Carpenter, a student at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, was one such individual. In 1977 she published an analysis of artist Jasper Johns’ Flag and Target with Four

Faces. Her piece appeared in the Art Journal which is funded by the College Art Association.196

Jasper Johns, an artist known for his collage work, creates overlapping images, some of which

192 Leverington, New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope, 363-4. 193 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 194 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 195 R. L. Feller, B. Keisch, and M. Curran, "Notes on Modern Pigments," Bulletin of the American Group. International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works 12, no. 1 (Oct. 1971): 62. 196 Joan Carpenter, "The Infra-Iconography of Jasper Johns," Art Journal 36, no. 3 (1977): 221. 43 cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. When Carpenter applied infrared radiation to the pieces, she observed underlying aspects of the work that art historians had never considered in their previous analyses. Carpenter’s article contains images of Johns’ works and visually compares the “normal” photograph with the infrared photograph. This assessment revealed that newspapers and journals were pasted below the painting. The content of these news sources indicated the time and place of the work and Johns’ political intentions. More specifically,

Carpenter noted that Johns used articles from The Nation which focus on the New Deal and the

1930s and United States government documents below his Flag.197 Accordingly, Carpenter demonstrated that Johns established an underlying historical and political context for his painting.

However, not all art historians were versed in the telling features of infrared analysis. In

1976, just a year before Carpenter published on Jasper Johns, Alec Cobbe, Assistant Director at the University of Cambridge and former restorer at the Tate Gallery, London, published a paper which examined the process of dating paintings with canvas stamps. In the article he noted that there was no method for determining canvas dates when the canvas is covered by relining.198 A year later, F. Dupont Cornelius criticized Alec Cobbe’s conclusion and noted that he had yet to explore infrared photography. Cornelius suggested purchasing “IR sensitive film” from Eastman-

Kodak and experimenting with photographing paintings.199 He noticed that materials that appear opaque to X-rays were transparent to IR and allowed for canvas stamp and dating of paintings that had been relined.200 Those art critics who were largely unaware of the new technologies

197 Carpenter, "The Infra-Iconography of Jasper Johns," 225. 198 F. Dupont Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” Studies in Conservation 22, no. 1 (1977): 42. 199 Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” 42. 200 Cornelius, “Correspondence: Transmitted Infrared Photography,” 42. 44 were missing an entire set of facts and figures; their data was incomplete, and their results did not tell the entire story. Thus, collaboration became the new norm.

Richard Newman demonstrated this interdisciplinary tendency in a piece entitled “Some

Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials” in the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation. He collaborated with the Fogg Art Museum’s Center for Conservation and Dr. Gregory Exarhos and Dr. Barry Nelson, both professors in the

Chemistry Department at Harvard University.201 Newman explained that computers completed the process of identifying and classifying materials and pigments. The paper’s publication in the

Journal of the American Institute for Conservation suggests that this material understanding would contribute to the fields of conservation and preservation.

Scientists and art conservators relied on understanding the most basic and fundamental composition of painting materials. The discussion of carbon bonds, molecular structure, sulfate compounds, polymorphs and ions, act as the foundation for Newman’s article. Figures and graphs relating transmittance to wavelength are the central areas of focus. The colors and paints that actually correspond with a specific chemical composition and degenerativity are not identified until the second half of the 20-page report. Newman concluded that the report was meant as “an introductory review of a few of the possible applications of the infrared spectroscopic technique in the realm of routine characterization of painting materials.”202 It functioned as a survey of the spectra of pigment mixtures whose composition can be difficult to identify. This paint categorization contributed to the art historian’s repertoire of facts. It would allow them to better determine the historical and technological context of the artist and the painter.

201 Newman, "Some Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials," 62. 202 Richard Newman, "Some Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in the Examination of Painting Materials," Journal of the American Institute for Cosnervation 19, no. 1 (1979): 59. 45

By the end of the decade, art historians were publishing art critiques that fully relied on infrared analysis. They acknowledged that analyzing underdrawings revealed an artistic process that was never before accessible: the evolution of a painting.203 Understanding this process, especially in reference to old masters, has been sought after since the field’s 16th century inception with Vesari’s Lives of the Artists. Leonardo da Vinci’s works received special attention because of their national and historical importance and because of their fragile state. In 1979, publications on Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper revealed that his techniques were not only inconsistent with “classical mural techniques”204 but also that these methods most likely caused the continued deterioration of the masterpiece. Mauro Matteini, one of the leading scholars on the subject, was traditionally trained in chemistry at the University of Florence.205

Museum display strategies also relied on the scientific analyses of specific pieces. Alan

Donnithorne studied physics and mathematics at the University of Sheffield. When he published

“The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together,” he was working in the Conservation Division of the Department of Scientific Research and Conservation in the British Museum.206 The drawings he analyzes were acquired as pieces that were pasted together. They were not displayed because the British Museum’s placement of works is

“arranged and stored alphabetically by artist’s surname, century by century.”207 Thus,

Donnithorne’s work was meant to remedy this “placement problem” by explaining “the technical examination, separation, conservation and restoration of the two drawings” separately.208

203 Rona Goffen, “A 'Madonna' by Lorenzo Lotto," MFA Bulletin76 (1978): 36. 204 Mauro Matteini and Arcangelo Moles, "A Preliminary Investigation of the Unusual Technique of Leonardo's Mural ‘The Last Supper,’" Studies in Conservation 24, no. 3 (1979): 131. 205 Matteini and Moles, "A Preliminary Investigation of the Unusual Technique of Leonardo's Mural ‘The Last Supper,’" 133. 206 Alan Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," Studies in Conservation 27, no. 4 (Nov. 1982): 72. 207 Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 208 Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 46

Donnithorne detailed his use of infrared photography as a means of allowing “parts of the object below the immediate surface to be rendered visible on film” which would reveal the materials holding the drawings together and indicate the presence of underdrawings.209 His acknowledgements included the Museums Association, his colleagues at the British Museum, and experts in radiography and photography some of whom were doctors who provided technical assistance in X-ray use.210

Traditionally trained scientists increasingly made contributions to art history as new radiation technologies came on the market. Elizabeth Walmsley and Catherine Metzger, both painting conservators at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, worked with chemists, biologists, and optical scientists to publish “Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with

Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared.”211 The piece compares two camera systems: the

CCD and the Vidicon. The National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C., Eastman Kodak, technicians, and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences all contributed to the research.212 By the end of the twentieth century, there would be few, if any, art history publications that did not acknowledge technical collaboration.

In 1990, Duilio Bertani and six of his colleagues published “A Scanning Device for

Infrared Reflectography” in Studies in Conservation which described a new art examination technology. The author noted that “infrared reflectography is currently a well-established technique for the analysis of paintings.”213 Infrared was now an integrated method. Art historians, to a certain extent, relied on this former military technology for accurate

209 Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 164. 210 Donnithorne, "The Technical Examination and Conservation of Two Drawings Pasted Together," 171 211 Walmsley et al., "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," 230. 212 Walmsley et al., "Improved Visualization of Underdrawings with Solid-State Detectors Operating in the Infrared," 230. 213 D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990): 113. 47 interpretations. Bertani stated that the “IR-sensitive television system” requires no special training and “permits an easy and immediate visualization of underdrawings and, in general, of changes in the work of art, thus making it a powerful tool both for the art historian and for the restorer.” Duilio Bertani is a physicist. He received a graduate degree from the University of

Milan and was working at Florence’s Instituto Nazionale di Ottica (National Institute of Optics) when the paper was published.214 Three of his coauthors were also trained in physics at the

University of Florence and the Max Planck Institut in Munich. These individuals, traditionally trained in the high sciences, collaborated with university art history departments, museums, and the Studies in Conservation journal to explain the new device’s particular importance. They were concerned with making it accessible to those responsible for truthfully interpreting history. These collaborations would lead to some of the most telling discoveries in art history.

Andreas Burmester, another scholar on infrared reflectograms, earned degrees in organic chemistry and mathematics before devoting four years to studying art history. He now heads the

Doerner Institut, an organization associated with the Bavarian State Painting Collections and devoted to conservation, analysis, and research of works of art.215 The institute was founded in

1937, and its areas of focus immediately following World War II were that of conservation and reconstruction.216 The institute did not shift its focus towards art technology until 1964 when international and political science efforts transitioned into outer space, a widespread trend for museums and art organizations.217

Burmester’s decision to pursue a formal degree in art history following his technical degrees became even more common in the 1990s. Scientists in this period took on the role of art

214 D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990): 116. 215 Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.html. 216 Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.htm. 217 Doerner Institut, http://www.doernerinstitut.de/en/geschichte/geschichte_5.html. 48 historian even more so than the previous decades in that they published works interpreting the truth behind paintings and their creators. Where conservation scientists were producing chemical papers on the composition of pigments and underdrawings, traditionally trained scientists were analyzing art and a painting’s historical context by applying their material knowledge of nature and the universe. The MIT Press published one such piece by Professor Stanley David

Gedzelman. Gedzelman works in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at New York’s

City College.218 While he teaches meteorology and atmospheric optics he has also examines the manner in which artists paint the sky and weather. His analyses reveal the potential shifts in the atmosphere and significant meteorological events that were recorded artistically before proper photography existed.

Gedzelman’s “The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh,” reveals the scientific aspects of van Gogh’s paintings. Gedzelman’s 1990 analysis of Vincent van Gogh’s works, especially the Starry Night indicate that van Gogh’s paintings were more an accurate depiction of the nighttime sky than a hallucination. In fact studies of the Starry Night reveal that van Gogh’s sky resembles the Whirlpool Nebula.219 Astronomers could accurately distinguish aspects of the universe in his painting. While many artists were creating skies that contained “flagrant violations of the laws of nature,” van Gogh made the sky’s natural elements identifiable and, to a certain extent, truthful.220 J. Patrick Harrington, Professor of Astronomy at the University of

Maryland and astrophysicist, provided a paper similar to that of Professor Gedzelman’s. He analyzed the works of Charles E. Burchfield an early 20th century American artist whose

218 Stanley David Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," Leonardo 23, no. 1 (1990): 109. 219 Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," 109. 220 Gedzelman, "The Meteorological Odyssey of Vincent van Gogh," 109. 49 paintings contain astronomical objects and often portray accurate positions of the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn.221

The scientist as an art historian gained popular recognition in 1992 when Dr. John

Asmus, Cold War scientist and laser conservationist, completed a comprehensive analysis of the

Mona Lisa. His work ushered in an unprecedented level of international collaboration in art. The project to “clarify” one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works began when Carlo Pedretti, art historian at UCLA, and Lord Kenneth Clark, British art historian and museum director, learned of new techniques in computer image processing. When CBS News anchorman Walter

Cronkite222 interviewed Asmus on the subject of art conservation and learned of the project,

Asmus gained an endorsement and additional funding from CBS News.223 Asmus’s connection to JPL and technical institutions contributed to the project’s momentum. The investigation revealed that Leonardo drafted the piece with a necklace around the subject’s neck and a river and bridge in the background.224 This discovery not only shed light upon Leonardo’s process but also revealed that the mysterious woman was likely Costanza d’Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla.

Asmus’s research mobilized technical and museum institutions toward a common goal. His investigative efforts acted as a model for the future of art history and science.

In 1995, Asmus would lead the first conference on Lasers in the Conservation of

Artworks (LACONA) in Crete, Greece. The goal of the LACONA was to “provide an opportunity for scientists from universities and research laboratories to meet and especially for

221 J. Patrick Harrington, "The Moon, The Stars, and The Artist: Astronomy in the Works of Charles E. Burchfield," American Art Journal 22, no. 2 (1990): 57. 222 Walter Cronkite was considered as the “most trusted man in America.” He covered some of the world’s most pivotal events ranging from World War II to the U.S. space program. 223 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 224 John Asmus, interview by Rui Bordalo, John Asmus: from Lasers to Art Conservation (January 2008): http://www.e-conservationline.com/%20http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/598/176/ 50 restorers, art historians and laser manufacturers to present and discuss new results concerning the application of laser technology in the restoration of artworks.”225 Since this initial meeting, professors, scientists, and the art industry have supported this “close cooperation between scientists and restorers” in order to drive the future of the field.

LACONA AND INTERNATIONAL ART NETWORKS

In 2003, Osnabrück, Germany hosted the 5th LACONA Conference (LACONA V), and in September 2011, LACONA IX took place in London with a focus on “the application of lasers to the treatment and analysis of cultural heritage.”226 Dr. Asmus continues to play a key role in leading and organizing the conferences. Participation in the conference and the publication of the conference’s proceedings indicates the priorities of transparency and access with respect to this subject. Where exclusivity and isolation characterized early nineteenth century art history, the field of the twenty-first century has evolved to embrace an international and interdisciplinary effort. The conference demonstrates this shift and a subsequent rise in art, science, and technology networks. LACONA V highlighted four of these networked institutions: the Euregio-

Center of Expertise for Art Conservation Technology, COST G7, Project OPTOCANTIERI, and the Spanish Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage. The Euregio-Center of Expertise for Art

Conservation Technology received funding from the European Union and partnered with the

University of Münster’s Department of Biophysics and commercial technology companies to develop new techniques and acquire knowledge in art preservation.

225 K. Dickmann, C. Fotakis, and J. F. Asmus (eds.). "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003): v. 226LACONA IX, http://www.lacona9.org/ 51

COST G7 involved the participation of 27 countries to achieve the “acute necessity of harmonization of the activities between scientists and restorers.”227 COST G7 led to the formation of ISAAC, the Innovative Science Application for Cultural Heritage, which is an open network that “covers an important gap in the European cultural landscape.”228 The Spanish

Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage launched a similar project in Spain with 21 research groups and 16 institutes.229 Project OPTOCANTIERI’s ultimate goal of distributing methods from the Institute of Applied Physics to professional end-users in the restoration industry illustrates the industry’s ambitions toward accessible innovation.230

American art research institutes also launched network projects and championed making resources publicly available. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the first American museum to house a scientific laboratory, launched a project entitled CAMEO, Conservation and Art

Materials Encyclopedia Online, in 2000.231 The project is a free web based resource on the materials and technologies used in conservation and preservation. The database contains tens of thousands of records and entries for professionals and amateurs alike. In a similar spirit, the

Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) compiles international conservation literature on preservation and conservation and makes them publicly available. The GCI is one of the leading institutions in researching new methods for art conservation and analysis. Its mission consists of “the

227 R. Radvan, “COST G7 Action Creates a Durable Instrument for Advanced Research Implementation in Artwork Conservation by Laser,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 381. 228 Radvan, “COST G7 Action Creates a Durable Instrument for Advanced Research Implementation in Artwork Conservation by Laser,” 387. 229 M. Castillejo, M.T. Blanco, and C. Sáiz-Jiménez, “Spanish Thematic Network on Cultural Heritage,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 395. 230 R. Salimbeni, R. Pini, and S. Siano, “The Project OPTOCANTIERI: A Synergy between Laser Techniques and Information Science for Arts Conservation,” in "Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks: LACONA V Proceedings," Springer Proceedings in Physics (Osnabrueck, Germany: Springer, September 15-18, 2003), 389. 231 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CAMEO: Conservation & Art Material Encyclopedia Online, 2012, http://cameo.mfa.org/index.asp (accessed October 2012). 52 creation and dissemination of knowledge that will benefit the professionals and organizations responsible for the conservation of the world's cultural heritage.”232 John Asmus has worked with the GCI and contributed to its objectives in technical art history.

This focus on public access and information dissemination also characterizes twenty-first century astronomy. Where world renowned museums including the Louvre, The National

Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, share a mission of “establishing, preserving, and documenting” collections of artwork,233 the

International Astronomical Union has the same objective in the context of the universe.

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION AND ART

“The International Astronomical Union (IAU) was founded in 1919. Its mission is to

“promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation.”234 In 2009, the IAU launched the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) in order to celebrate the Union’s 90 year anniversary. The project began with the IAU partnering with 19 other organizations including the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), the

European Space Agency (ESA), and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. This international alliance would “help people rediscover their place in the Universe through the sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.”235

This public mission is precisely what scientists have strived towards for centuries. It is the foundation of scientific revolutions, the catalyst behind technological progress, and the

232 D. Bertani et al., "A Scanning Device for Infrared Reflectography," Sudies in Conservation 35, no. 3 (1990), 116. 233 About MoMA, http://www.moma.org/about/index 234 Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 4. 235 Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 5. 53 mindset of individuals looking for universal truths. This “rediscovery” is not specific to an individual discipline. In fact, the public endorsement of this introspective exploration illustrates that it is one of humanity’s intellectual characteristics. The International Year of Astronomy demonstrates this convergence in approach which has come full circle since Giotto’s portrayal of

Halley’s Comet at the turn of the fourteenth century. The IYA organized several initiatives with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to achieve eight core goals: awareness, access, collaboration, education, appreciation, networking, equality, and preservation of “our global cultural and natural heritage of dark skies and historical astronomical sites.”236 The IYA’s “Dark Skies Awareness” mission aims to “preserve and protect dark night skies in places such as urban cultural landscapes…to support the goals of UNESCO’s thematic initiative.”237 Another initiative entitled “Astronomy and World Heritage: Universal treasures,” hopes to “establish a link between science and culture” and act as a method for preserving and conserving elements of astronomy that are prone to deterioration.

The World at Night (TWAN), another IYA project, epitomizes the contemporary link between astronomy and art. The initiative aims to create a collection of photographs and videos showcasing historical sites and monuments against a backdrop of the night sky. 238 The universal nature of astronomy drives this project in that the sky and the universe are not tied to nations.

The partnership between photographers and astronomers to create a collection of culturally and scientifically significant works is beyond what an exclusively academic or artistic discipline could achieve independently. Dennis Di Ciccio, a project contributor, is traditionally trained as a

236 Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 5. 237 Catherine Cesarsky, International Year of Astronomy 2009. ThalesAlenia Space: http://www.astronomy2009.org, 2009, 18. 238 Babak Tafreshi, “The World at Night: One people, one sky,” International Year of Astronomy 2009, 2009, 24 (www.twanight.org). 54 mechanical engineer. He works as a telescope maker, astrophotographer, and observer. 239 His photographs are recognized as pieces of art because they convey the sky in a way that astronomers and photographers have strived toward for centuries, a way that captures the sky’s truth.

Wally Pacholka, a world renowned astrophotographer and contributor to the IYA TWAN project, is recognized for the same achievement. He is a member of the Royal Astronomical

Society of Canada and identifies himself as an artist. According to Pacholka, the methods and skill sets involved in research are universal. His images have received equal recognition in the artistic discipline of photography as they have in the scientific discipline of astronomy. TIME and LIFE praised his images and awarded his “Heavenly Comet and Earthly Fingers,” a photograph of the Hale Bopp comet taken at Joshua Tree National Park in California, “Picture of the Year” in 1997.240 NASA has recognized more than 20 of his images as “Astronomy Picture of the Day” and has used several of his pieces of “art” as official astronomical records.241

CONCLUSION

The IYA and the initiatives outlined at the LACONA conferences demonstrate the convergence of art and science. Specific institutional exclusivity as established by the Royal

Society in the seventeenth century and by museums in the eighteenth century largely disappeared when the organizations realized that external input would not only preserve their discipline but also move them forward in their ultimate goals. Nations have recognized this scientific authority for centuries; art museums recognized this authority only after their cultural objects were at risk.

239 Babak Tafreshi, “The World at Night: One people, one sky,” International Year of Astronomy 2009, 2009, 24 (www.twanight.org). 240 "The Top Science." Time 150, no. 27 (Dec. 29, 1997): 160-161. 241 Brett Johnson, "About Wally Pacholka." AstroPics.com. http://www.astropics.com/About-Wally-Pacholka.html 55

In 1853, the National Gallery realized that their collection needed protection from

London’s contaminated air. During World War I and World War II, museum collections needed protection from international geopolitical threats. After World War II, governments established agencies like NASA which were oriented towards progress, an orientation that would ultimately define a nation’s international authority. These bodies would come together to pursue international progress. In the context of art and science, international progress merged with precautionary preservation and conservation strategies. The history of a subject, whether a painting or the universe, has the potential to predict that subject’s future.

Today, preventative research measures ensure that cultural heritage centers properly protect their works, but the application is no longer driven by risk and fear of destruction. Instead it is driven by a focus on discovery. In 2003, an art historian and physicist worked together to discover Édouard Manet’s Infanta Maria Margarita which was initially identified as a Diego

Velázquez work. They uncovered a painting’s real identity. Art and science are different.

However, the fields express complementary dimensions of the human experience. Scientists are characterized by a particular and unique interest in art as a quest for truth. An astronomer’s discovery of the electromagnetic spectrum’s invisible light and a physicist’s discovery of a painting’s formerly invisible necklace were both groundbreaking. They created a new reference point in science and art, respectively, and established standards that never before existed.

56

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