The technical examination of Old Master drawings: a symposium in conservation science

Announcement and call for posters –
deadline 31 October 2009

Thursday 20 May 2010
Stevenson Lecture Theatre
Admission free, booking required

This symposium, hosted by the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research at the British Museum with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will discuss the extensive scientific studies of drawings from the British Museum and the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe at the Uffizi, Florence, carried out in preparation for the exhibition Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance drawings (22 April – 25 July 2010) at the British Museum.

The results from this work will also be set in the context of other work being undertaken in this field.

The symposium will cover technical imaging, non-contact and non-invasive analytical investigations as well as conservation-related issues and the curatorial implications raised by such scientific study.

Comparisons will also be drawn between the results produced and what is known of the drawing materials and techniques of the Italian tradition from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.

A number of drawing techniques will be considered and discussed, including stylus, lead-tin and silver metalpoints, pen and ink, brush, red and black chalk.

The meeting will be of interest to museum scientists, conservation scientists, conservators, curators and art historians. The symposium will be conducted in English, and will include both oral and poster presentations.

Call for poster contributions

Abstracts for poster contributions are invited on the following aspects of Old Master drawings:

• Analytical approaches to the understanding of drawings
• Technical imaging
• Methods and materials
• Case studies in the investigation of drawings

Abstracts should include: 

• Full title of poster
• Full name(s), postal address(es) and email address(es) of author(s)
• A summary of the poster in no more than 300 words

Please submit abstracts to Dr Satoko Tanimoto
drawings@bm-mellon-symposia.org.uk 

The deadline for submission of poster abstracts is 31 October 2009. Potential authors will be informed if their contribution has been accepted by 30 December 2009.

Booking information

Booking will open in late 2009.

To register interest in this event and be added to the mailing list, please email drawings@bm-mellon-symposia.org.uk

Supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Image: Study for the head of the Virgin by Raphael (1498–1520).