Projects & Publications
The IMA's conservation staff participate in a wide range of collections care activities, perform treatment on our collections, and conduct research in collaboration with the curatorial team, the conservation science department, and external collaborators. Learn more about some featured projects below.
Projects Gallery
Francia Treatment: Madonna and Child in a new light.
Clowes Conservator of Paintings, Roxy Sperber, removes the varnish from Giulio Francia's Madonna and Child.
You can see Roxy and her team's work on display throughout the IMA Galleries.
Art Conservation Publications
Cnossen, Kris, Annika Blake-Howland, and Amanda Holden. "The Role of a Significance Assessment in the Replacement of Plastic on a Stephen Sprouse Dress." In Considering Costume: The Conservation, Apparel, Adornment, and Accessories, edited by Joel Stephenson, Howard Sutcliffe, and Elihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00811-5zabeth Shaeffer, 98-116. Williamsburg, Virginia: NATCC, 2023.
Freese, Emily, Amanda Holden, and Erinn Bessler. “Strike a Pose: The Overhaul of Fiberglass Mannequins and Their Mounts.” In Considering Costume: The Conservation, Apparel, Adornment, and Accessories, edited by Joel Stephenson, Howard Sutcliffe, and Elizabeth Shaeffer, 258-268. Williamsburg, Virginia: NATCC (2023).
Murray, A., K. Biggs, A. Shugar, R. Ploeger, E. Uffelman, M. Stols-Witlox, P. Gonzales, G. Smith, M. Loubser, L. F. Fuster López, G. Di Pietro, A. Sah, A. Nevin, A. Sardarli, S. Wei, and E. Casanova-González. "Heritage Science Education – The Online Resource Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) and Themes from the Inaugural Conference." Chemistry Teacher International 5, No. 3 (2023): 331-345. https://doi.org/10.1515/cti-2023-0013 [OPEN ACCESS]
Samide, M. J., and G. D. Smith. "A Methodology to Assess Pollution Off-gassing of Museum Construction Materials Using a Pyrolysis Microfurnace." Heritage 6, no. 3 (2023): 2292-2307. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6030121 [OPEN ACCESS]
Schmidtke Sobeck, S., and G. D. Smith. "Shedding Light on Daylight Fluorescent Artists’ Pigments, Part 2: Spectral Properties and Light Stability." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 62, No. 3 (2023): 222-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2022.2031460
Villalta-Cerdas, Adrian, Gregory D. Smith, Megan Carrison DeSmit, and John V. Goodpaster. 2023. "Room Temperature Evaporation Behavior of Homogeneous Azeotropes Used in Art Conservation Cleaning Treatments" Applied Sciences 13, no. 21 (2023): 11962. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132111962 [OPEN ACCESS]
Smith, G. D., V. J. Chen, A. Holden, N. Haghipour, and L. Hendriks. "Combined, Sequential Dye Analysis and Radiocarbon Dating of Single Ancient Textile Yarns from a Nazca Tunic." Heritage Science 10, No. 1 (2022): 179. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00811-5 [OPEN ACCESS]
Roxane Sperber & Aviva Burnstock. “A History of the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Courtauld Institute of Art.” Studies in Conservation, 68,1 (2021): 102-127, DOI: 10.1080/00393630.2021.1966184
Beckett, Fiona, Amanda Holden, and Gregory Dale Smith. “Seeing the light: Research, conservation and exhibition of a 1980s daylight fluorescent painted leather jacket designed by Sprouse and painted by Castronovo.” Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 58:4 (2019): 233-247, DOI: 10.1080/01971360.2019.1614290
Holden, Amanda, Gregory D. Smith, Mark F. Vitha, and Victor J. Chen. "Everything Old is New Again: Science Unravels a Fake Moroccan Embroidery." In Lessons Learned: Textile Conservation – Then and Now, edited by Howard Sutcliffe and Joel Thompson, 253-267. New York: NATCC, 2019.
Smith, Gregory Dale, Victor J. Chen, Amanda Holden, and Shannon G. Lieb. "Analytical Characterization of 5,5’-dibromoindigo and its First Discovery in a Museum Textile." Heritage Science 7, 62 (2019): 179. DOI: 10.1186/s40494-019-0305-7
Holden, Amanda. "Weaving Wonder: The Science of Fabric." PATTERN 13 (Spring/Summer 2018): 105-109.
Sperber, Roxane. "Deciphering Intention from Aging: The Use of Archival Material in the Study and Treatment of Winifred Dysart by George Fuller." In AIC Paintings Specialty Postprints (2017).
Sperber, Roxane. "The Retouching Practices of John Linnell: Technique, Patronage, and Practice from Two Works in the Yale Center for British Art." In A Changing Art: Nineteenth-Century Painting Practice and Conservation, edited by Nicola Costaras, 116-122. London: Archetype, 2017.
Sperber, Roxane, and Anna Koopstra. "A Saint Jerome after Palma il Giovane: Artistic Invention and the Practice of Painting on Copper in the Age of Printmaking." In Paintings on Copper and Other Metal Plates: Production, Degradation, and Conservation Issues, edited by Laura Fuster López et al., 103-109. Valencia: Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 2017.
Chen, Victor J., Gregory D. Smith, Amanda Holden, Niloo Paydar, and Kathleen Kiefer. "Chemical Analysis of Dyes on an Uzbek Ceremonial Coat: Objective Evidence for Artifact Dating and the Chemistry of Early Synthetic Dyes." Dyes and Pigments 131: 320-332 (2016). DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2016.04.019
Sperber, Roxane. "A Technical and Historical Investigation of John Linnell’s Retouching Practice and Its Impact on Conservation Treatment Decisions." The Picture Restorer 48 (2016): 39-42.
Sperber, Roxane and Jens Stenger, "Canaletto's Colour: the inspiration and implications of changing grounds, pigments and paint application in the artist's English period," British Art Studies, Issue 2 (2016) https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-02/rsperber-jstenger
Holden, Amanda, Fiona Beckett, and Gregory Dale Smith. "Seeing the Light: Conservation and Exhibition of a 1980s Daylight Fluorescent Painted Leather Jacket." Textile Specialty Group Postprints 25 (2015): 95-110.
Stites Alig, Dorothy, Julie Randolph, and Amanda Holden. "Texture/Color/Surface/Hand: Developments in loss compensation for textiles." AIC News Vol. 28, No. 3 (May 2003): 1, 3-4. https://www.culturalheritage.org/docs/default-source/publications/periodicals/newsletter/03_may_aicnews.pdf?sfvrsn=c436f2a_13
Paintings by the Pissarro Family: A Technical Catalogue, https://pissarro.discovernewfields.org/
Masterpieces from the Clowes Collection: Paintings, https://paintings.theclowescollection.org/
