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Crossing borders: History, materials and techniques of Portuguese painters from 1850-1918 (Romanticism, Naturalism and Modernism)

This proposal aims to promote collaboration between science and art; specifically, conservation, computer science and art history. The focus will be the artistic practices of Portuguese masters, within the Romantic (1835-1880), Naturalist (1870-1930), and Modernist (1911-1960) movements. Art historians, curators, conservators, conservation and computer scientists will study selected paintings from the collections of The Casa Museu Anasta?sio Gonc?alves (CMAG), The Centro de Arte Moderna da Fundac?a?o Calouste Gulbenkian (CAM) and The Museu Nacional de Arte Contempora?nea – Museu do Chiado (MNAC-MC).
The research will, for the first time, situate Portuguese painters in context by identifying how their materials, techniques, and methods compare with their European contemporaries. It will also characterise the three artistic movements in Portugal with more precision. Key topics include the chemical composition of the pigments and binders found in the paintings as well as computer analyses of the artists’ brushwork. The latter has recently proved important for distinguishing differences between artistic practices: we aim to assess this tool and to contribute for investigating the rheology (flow properties) of the paint with a view to applications in authentication studies.
Historical research will determine the sources for training and painting materials for selected painters within the three movements -thereby exploring what influenced their choices, both aesthetically and technically. To date the only extant colour men’s archive database is from the nineteenth-century British Colour man, Winsor & Newton. It will be consulted and investigations will be made to discover other recipe archives contemporary with the selected Portuguese painters. Recipes will be used to create historically accurate reconstructions of their preparation layers, pigments, binders, and varnishes which will provide reference sets for chemical analyses. Combined, tthese diverse approaches will enable the characterization of the molecular palette and will reveal the “hand” of the artist at work.
The artists selected are: Miguel Lupi and Cristino da Silva (Romanticism); Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira, Columbano and Artur Loureiro (Naturalism); Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso and Eduardo Viana (Modernism). Also included are a number of geometric paintings by Joaquim Rodrigo, Fernando Lanhas and Nadir Afonso since they aimed to cancel the “artist hand.” Computer brushwork analysis will determine whether some remnant of their individual “signature” remains. With the project researchers and three additional PhD students supported by FCT-MCTES grants, we plan to fully characterise 70 paintings.
Within this dynamic environment, young researchers will participate in the first multidisciplinary group to study Portuguese artistic practices. Teams will consist of leading experts from partner museums and the university. The experience gained will provide new tools and protocols for forensic scientists investigating art fraud for the Policia Judicia?ria (PJ).
Special attention will be paid to the dissemination of knowledge through monographs, following the model established by the National Gallery London’s “Art in the making” series. Results of chemical and documentary analyses for each artist will populate a database dedicated to the works of Portuguese artists to ensure that all relevant information can be found in one location. It will also form a repository for future work, and will be designed as an innovative research tool. For the general public, a documentary TV series as well as a single documentary programme is planned featuring the history, materials and techniques of Portuguese painters from 1850-1960 (Romanticism, Naturalism and Modernism).
Art-historical research will be coordinated by Raquel Henriques da Silva (FCSH-UNL), with the following individuals & museums, MNAC: Pedro Lapa, Maria de Aires Silveira, Adelaide Ginga, CAM: Helena de Freitas, CMAG: Jose? Alberto Ribeiro; and Rita Macedo from FCT. Art technological investigations will be coordinated by Ma?rcia Vilarigues, Maria Joa?o Melo and Leslie Carlyle (FCT-UNL) and computer image analysis by Nuno Correia (FCT-UNL). Consultant Leonor Sa? (PJ) will provide input for art fraud procedures. Marcello Picollo will bring his expertise in FORS. Jaap Boon, responsible for pioneering the highly successful MOLART and De Mayerne Projects (NL), will be a consultant, to ensure the highest standards are met.