Conservation Portfolio Home
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Conserving a Giant: Resurrecting Pietro da Cortona's Triumph of David
Old Falvey Library Reading Room,
Villanova University, Pennsylvania
Treatment completed as conservation intern from September 2013- December 2013.
Additional responsibilities included:
- drafting and designing the content for didactic panels
- presenting the project to undergraduate classes in English, Art History, and Chemistry
- interacting with the general public on a daily basis
- contributing to the project blog:
- drafting and designing the content for didactic panels
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Here I am pointing out the artist's loyalty to the Biblical text in his depiction of David while I address a Villanova undergraduate English class.
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Here is the same figure from the previous image with the proper left side of her face wet up with mineral spirits.This demonstration also helps the public visualize how the painting will change as treatment proceeds. Visitors are able to compare the original brushwork of the artist with the more heavily overpainted faces.
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We often used this figure's face as a teaching tool to explain the degraded varnish and why the coating needs to be removed and replaced with a more stable coating.The proper left side of the woman's face appears to suffer major paint loss, but it is actually a degraded coating that is obscuring the paint layer underneath.When wet up with mineral spirits or a similar non-polar solvent that acts like a temporary varnish, the cracks in the degraded coating are filled and reflect light so that the paint layer is visible.
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Screenshot of an entry I wrote for the project blog about using the Metigo MAP software.
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Didactic panels installed in front of the conservation work site in the Falvey Library Reading Room
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Didactic panels with pamphlets about the project and scrolling images of the conservation team at work
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Some of the panels are positioned in the Reading Room space so that students are encouraged to engage with the project.
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Didactic panel about the painting's history and provenance.
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Didactic panel about Pietro da Cortona and his style and working method.
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More information on Pietro da Cortona's working method supported by analysis on Villanova's canvas.
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Didactic panel presenting the field of conservation and the path to becoming a professional conservator.
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Didactic panel summarizing the treatment proposal for the project.
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Didactic panel defining analytical techniques used on paintings.
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More examples of analytical techniques used on paintings
