Under the Skin: Looking at Historic Paints under the Microscope
*The event has already taken place on this date: Thu, 09/15/2022
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Many of us look at historic buildings and wonder what they looked like when they were first built. Paint analysis can provide important insights into original colors and finishes, and sometimes into original configurations. Highly magnified images of tiny samples taken from architecture, art and decorative arts materials offer substantive information about original decorations, and how they might have discolored and degraded over time. Using paint archaeology these “cross-section” samples can also reveal how architecture and objects have been deliberately altered or accidentally compromised.
There is so much more to learn about every possible form of art using reflected and transmitted light cross-section microscopy analysis techniques, and the brilliant images generated through the microscope can become their own form of art.
Dr. Susan Buck is has a Ph.D. in Art Conservation and Preservation. Her microscopic paint analyses have revolutionized knowledge of historic paint at sites including Monticello, Mt. Vernon, and the Joel Lane House.
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