Studying 18th-Century Paintings and Works of Art on Paper

Proceedings from the second CATS conference explore
18th-century art and artists’ materials, with papers on workshop practice,
technical analysis, trade, and the impact of European Art Academies. Topics span
painting, drawing, conservation science, and historical source research.

CATS Proceedings, II, 2014 This is the second CATS Conference Proceedings with papers from the international conference: Technology & Practice: Studying 18th Century Paintings & Art on Paper. The conference was organised by CATS in collaboration with Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Science in Helsinki, Finland; Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden, and University of Oslo, Norway. The conference focused on artists’ techniques and materials, source research, conservation science, the history of science and technology, trade and pharmacy during the 18th century. Speakers explored tradition and changes in artistic practices in the light of the establishment of a series of national Art Academies in Europe throughout the century. Papers include topics such as workshop practice and materials, art historical and technical approaches to documentary evidence and technical examination and the analysis of paintings and drawings. Also issues of trade, supply and questions concerning the demand for materials for diverse artistic expressions are analysed and discussed.

Foreword

Discipline and wonder: the 18th-century art academy and the invention of the artist as a free practitioner

Mikkel Bogh

The effect of Prussian blue on the technique of the Danish court painters Hendrik Krock and Benoît le Coffre

Loa Ludvigsen, Mikala Bagge and Vibeke Rask

Breaking new ground: investigating Pellegrini’s use of ground in the Golden Room of the Mauritshuis

Carol Pottasch, Susan Smelt and Ralph Haswell

Liotard’s pastels: techniques of an 18th-century pastellist

Leila Sauvage and Cécile Gombaud

An investigation of the painting technique in portraits by Jens Juel

Tine Louise Slotsgaard

72 florin for colours, white and glue: the Tiepolos, the Veninos and Würzburg

Andreas Burmester and Stefanie Correll

The coarse painter and his position in 17th- and 18th-century Dutch decorative painting

Piet Bakker, Margriet van Eikema Hommes and Katrien Keune

A ‘painted chamber’ in Beverwijk by Jacobus Luberti Augustini: novel insights into the working methods and painting practices in a painted wall-hanging factory

Ige Verslype, Johanneke Verhave, Susan Smelt, Katrien Keune, Hinke Sigmond and Margriet van Eikema Hommes

Eighteenth-century practices in the art academies in Spain: the use of paper in prints and drawings

Clara de la Peña Mc Tigue

Nicolai Abildgaard: an 18th-century Danish artist and his paper

Ingelise Nielsen and Niels Borring

Semi-mechanical transfer methods in Nicolai Abildgaard’s drawings

Niels Borring

Canvas supports in paintings by Nicolai Abildgaard: fabrics and formats

Troels Filtenborg

‘1st olio after Capivi’: copaiba balsam in the paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Alexandra Gent, Rachel Morrison and Nelly von Aderkas

Ferdinand Bauer’s Flora Graeca colour code

Richard Mulholland

• Edited by Helen Evans
• Edited by Kimberley Muir

"The 15 essays collected in the book provide the reader with a comprehensive view of eighteenth-century art which is both enjoyable and enlightening...a wealth of groundbreaking technical information for conservators, scientists and art historians...this is a superbly edited Archetype Publication which broadly explores tradition and innovation in the age of enlightenment within the context of emerging academic art practices." The Picture Restorer - Spring 2016
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"The 15 essays collected in the book provide the reader with a comprehensive view of eighteenth-century art which is both enjoyable and enlightening...a wealth of groundbreaking technical information for conservators, scientists and art historians...this is a superbly edited Archetype Publication which broadly explores tradition and innovation in the age of enlightenment within the context of emerging academic art practices."

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