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George Stout’s Legacy in Conservation

The film The Monuments Men is bringing much-deserved attention to the group of men and women who risked their lives to protect and recover art during World War II—including former Fogg Museum conservator George Stout (the inspiration for George Clooney’s character, Frank Stokes). What many may not know, however, is how Stout and his colleagues at the museum helped lay the foundation for such an enormous endeavor, well before the Monuments Men ever set foot in Europe. Stout’s experience at the Fogg would prove instrumental not only to his role in the Allied mission to protect cultural heritage, but also to his success in furthering the field of conservation after the war.
When George Leslie Stout first came to Harvard in 1926 to study art history and work at the university’s art museum, he could not have suspected that this decision would lead him to laboring in the salt mines in Austria almost two decades later. Stout was drawn to the Fogg Museum for its unique approach of applying science to the study and preservation of art. Director Edward W. Forbes and Associate Director Paul J. Sachs, who envisioned the Fogg as a laboratory for art, introduced Stout to the world of restoration and technical research. The museum would become a premier training ground for museum professionals in the United States, including a number of the Monuments Men.
In 1928, Forbes established the Fogg’s Department for Technical Studies and named Stout the museum’s first conservator. Over the next few decades, in partnership with staff chemist Rutherford John Gettens and others, Stout helped raise the standards in the profession. They experimented with treatments, standardized examination and documentation procedures, and produced scientific data on a wide range of topics. In 1932 they launched Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts, the first journal dedicated to conservation-related research. By providing an arena for the open exchange of scientifically based knowledge and ideas, the journal was seminal to the growth of the field of conservation, both in the United States and abroad. And Gettens and Stout’s book, Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopedia, was immediately recognized as an invaluable resource for artists and those concerned with preserving art. It remains a standard reference work for conservators.
As the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 increased fears that the fighting might reach this country’s shores, Stout provided the museum community with information, drawn from European publications, on the emergency protection of works of art during wartime. In these early years of the war he also spearheaded a conference at the Fogg for museum professionals worried about the protection of cultural heritage, and he co-edited a “first aid” manual for the armed forces, called Notes on Safeguarding and Conserving Cultural Material in the Field.
Finally, when concern for works of art in war zones reached a crescendo, Stout and Paul Sachs, along with Harvard University dean George Chase, mobilized museum directors and museum associations to petition the government to create a formal program to protect monuments overseas. With growing pressure from academic and cultural institutions in the Boston area and beyond, the government soon formed the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, also known as the Roberts Commission (1942–47) after its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts. Sachs was in charge of selecting men and women to represent the commission in the field, in a section officially called Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A), or the Monuments Men. Stout was an obvious choice. He and Sheldon Keck, who had also trained at the Fogg, were the only conservators in the group. Most others were art historians and museum professionals, a number of whom were Sachs’s former students.
Stout arrived in Europe in 1944 and stayed two years. Because the MFA&A was not considered a military unit, Stout and the other Monuments Men had little logistical support or rank within the military hierarchy. But the few hundred officers who were spread across Europe managed to perform an incredible job against huge odds. Traveling in small numbers close to the front lines, the officers initially helped with emergency repairs of objects, found storage, documented the condition of monuments and works of art, tried to track down treasures that had been legitimately evacuated from museums for safekeeping or that had been stolen, and safeguarded cultural property against U.S. armed forces. As inspector-at-large, Stout used his skills in creating systems and organizing: he outlined procedures for documenting objects and indexing monuments. And after the U.S. army discovered thousands of repositories of hidden and confiscated cultural objects while moving into Germany and Austria, Stout helped uncover some of the most spectacular repositories, starting with the Siegen mine. Stout’s training as a conservator proved essential in the next phase of the project, when he spearheaded efforts to find safe places to store these retrieved objects, to pack the works, and to ensure their safe handling and transportation. He also trained others so that they could complete the daunting project.
At the end of the war, Stout was among those responsible for administering one of the earliest collection points set up for retrieved objects, and he helped select the officer to run the central collection point in Munich. He also served as chief of the Arts and Monuments Division of the Civil Information and Education Service for the Far East in Japan and helped with postwar preservation and restitution efforts.
The experience of handling displaced works of art on such a large scale raised awareness of the environmental factors and hazards involved in transporting them. This, in turn, attracted more people to the field of conservation. Stout’s longtime efforts to professionalize the field were finally successful in 1950, when he helped found the first international conservation association, serving as the organization’s first president. Now known as the International Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC), the IIC formalized the international network of scientists, conservators, and museum officials, reestablishing much-needed arenas for the exchange of ideas and knowledge. In 1972 the American branch of the IIC developed into the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). Thus, the many international connections that were forged before, during, and just after the war helped lay the groundwork for these professional organizations, all of which are still in existence today.
George Stout’s legacy of leading the charge to protect and rescue works of art during the war will remain popular, but his leadership in the development of conservation is equally important. His early work at the Fogg Museum is carried on today in the Harvard Art Museums’ Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, which remains a pioneer in developing new methods and techniques in the field and contributes to the education of museum professionals around the world.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/art-forger-wolfgang-beltracchis-multimillion-dollar-scam/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/art-forger-wolfgang-beltracchis-multimillion-dollar-scam/

I restauri della basilica di Sant’Andrea a Mantova

Un det­ta­glio de­gli af­fre­schi di Gior­gio An­selmi, Man­tova, Ba­si­lica di Sant’Andrea, cu­pola (Foto M. Nascig)

Stanno ter­mi­nando in que­sti giorni i re­stauri delle strut­ture in­terne della ba­si­lica di Sant’Andrea a Man­tova, ini­ziati alla fine del 2008 e fra­zio­nati in tre lotti: il primo com­pren­deva le su­per­fici dell’abside, del pre­sbi­te­rio e i bracci del tran­setto, il se­condo ri­guar­dava le pa­reti e la volta della na­vata men­tre l’ultimo ha in­te­res­sato la cu­pola (tam­buro, pie­dritto, ca­lotta e lan­terna per un to­tale di circa 3.000 mq di su­per­fi­cie di­pinta). Per­tanto l’edificio sarà re­sti­tuito a una vi­sione rin­no­vata sia per gli in­ter­venti di pu­li­tura sull’apparato de­co­ra­tivo sia per l’introduzione di una nuova il­lu­mi­na­zione a luci led che per­met­terà di co­gliere l’armonia delle li­nee ar­chi­tet­to­ni­che dell’edificio e lo splen­dore dell’impianto pittorico.

Gli in­ter­venti di re­stauro, con­ser­va­tivi e ma­nu­ten­tivi, hanno per­messo di dare nuova luce alle do­ra­ture in fo­glia, fis­sate a gom­ma­lacca sulla de­co­ra­zione. Le su­per­fici di­pinte che non pre­sen­ta­vano sol­le­va­menti pit­to­rici sono state pu­lite prima a secco e poi a umido men­tre sulle por­zioni più cri­ti­che si è in­ter­ve­nuti con un pre­con­so­li­da­mento e con mi­nu­ziose stuc­ca­ture. La su­per­fi­cie è stata trat­tata con ri­toc­chi ad ac­que­rello o con in­te­gra­zioni dei mo­tivi ripetitivi. La fab­brica della ba­si­lica di Sant’Andrea co­nobbe un iter lungo e tor­men­tato che ri­chiese circa tre­cento anni di in­ter­venti co­strut­tivi e di re­stauro. Av­viata nel 1472 da Luca Fan­celli dopo la morte di Leon Bat­ti­sta Al­berti, fu por­tata avanti, tra di­verse in­ter­ru­zioni, fino all’inizio del Set­te­cento, quando la grande cro­ciera del tem­pio era an­cora priva di co­per­tura de­fi­ni­tiva. La prima pie­tra per l’erezione della cu­pola è po­sta nel 1732 e il pro­getto, af­fi­dato all’architetto e pit­tore pia­cen­tino An­drea Gal­luzzi, al­lievo di Fran­ce­sco Galli Bib­biena, non trova d’accordo il Pri­mi­ce­rio della ba­si­lica, Ni­cola Ta­sca, che nel 1733 in­vita a Man­tova l’abate Fi­lippo Ju­varra, già pro­get­ti­sta della cu­pola del duomo di Como. Pur in as­senza di di­se­gni e con po­chi do­cu­menti che ri­man­dano all’esecuzione dei la­vori, la pa­ter­nità ju­var­riana è av­va­lo­rata an­cora oggi da ra­gioni sti­li­sti­che. La strut­tura mu­ra­ria, che rag­giunge 70 me­tri di al­tezza e per­mette an­cora oggi di rag­giun­gere la ca­lotta at­tra­verso una scala a chioc­ciola in­terna, è ter­mi­nata nel 1758 quando è col­lo­cata la croce in ferro sulla co­per­tura della lanterna.

Tas­sello di re­stauro (Foto M. Nascig)

Nel 1778 l’architetto Paolo Pozzo, di­ret­tore della scuola d’architettura dell’Accademia di Scienze, Belle Let­tere e Arti di Man­tova, è in­ca­ri­cato di ter­mi­nare i la­vori di mu­ra­tura della ba­si­lica. Nel corso de­gli anni Ot­tanta Fe­lice Campi, pit­tore man­to­vano, la­vora con al­cuni al­lievi dell’Accademia alle spec­chia­ture del tran­setto e della na­vata. L’artista ve­ro­nese Gior­gio An­selmi, che aveva già ese­guito le al­le­go­rie della Sala dei Fiumi in pa­lazzo du­cale, è in­ca­ri­cato di ese­guire gli af­fre­schi del ca­tino ab­si­dale della ba­si­lica con il Mar­tiro di Sant’Andrea e so­prat­tutto di de­co­rare la cu­pola di Ju­varra, cer­ta­mente la parte più im­pe­gna­tiva e sug­ge­stiva dell’intero ap­pa­rato de­co­ra­tivo. Il boz­zetto della sua opera su­scitò aspre cri­ti­che da parte dell’Accademia man­to­vana ma egli com­pletò il la­voro in po­chis­simi anni tra il 1777 e il 1782. Tra il gran nu­mero di fi­gure rap­pre­sen­tate si tro­vano la Tri­nità, la Ma­donna, la città di Man­tova in sem­bianze di ma­trona con una co­rona tur­rita ac­canto ai vasi del Pre­zio­sis­simo San­gue con San Lon­gino, fi­gure di pa­triar­chi, di pro­feti, di santi, di pa­dri della Chiesa, di mar­tiri e una schiera di an­geli in cielo. Nei ri­qua­dri de­gli ar­chi vi sono le quat­tro parti del mondo che si pie­gano di fronte al Van­gelo e a fianco i frutti della Re­den­zione e della Pre­di­ca­zione. Nei quat­tro pen­nac­chi stanno gli Evan­ge­li­sti. I re­stauri hanno con­fer­mato le no­te­voli qua­lità co­lo­ri­sti­che e sce­no­gra­fi­che del pit­tore che tut­ta­via uti­lizza mo­delli ac­ca­de­mici. La ve­lo­cità nell’esecuzione delle fi­gure, prive di tracce di spol­vero no­no­stante la va­sta su­per­fi­cie, non pe­na­lizza l’attenzione ai par­ti­co­lari, agli ef­fetti di luce e om­bra sui pan­neggi e sui volti dei per­so­naggi rappresentati.
La va­sta de­co­ra­zione della cu­pola dello Ju­varra è con­clusa con l’intervento di Gae­tano Cre­vola, pro­fes­sore di ar­chi­tet­tura della Reale Ac­ca­de­mia man­to­vana, ne­gli or­nati del tim­pano e dei quat­tro ar­chi­volti, di Luigi Fe­de­rici nelle do­ra­ture e dello stuc­ca­tore ti­ci­nese Paolo Bolla che ese­gue le sta­tue di Fede, Spe­ranza, Ca­rità e Re­li­gione e quat­tro bu­sti di profeti.

Re­stauri del tam­buro (Foto M. Nascig)

Ve­duta della na­vata della ba­si­lica di Sant’Andrea con l’impalcatura, zona tran­setto (Foto D. Sogliani)

Stanford professor looks underwater for history of the Roman Empire

Using archeological evidence from shipwrecks and harbors, classics scholar Justin Leidwanger uncovers the story of economic networks during a millennium of classical antiquity.

Stanford scholar Justin Leidwanger spends a lot of time underwater.
An assistant professor of classics, Leidwanger is a maritime archeologist. His research entails what it sounds like it would – exploring artifacts that lie beneath the sea.
A scholar with interests in the Roman and early Byzantine eras, Leidwanger has conducted thousands of dives – mostly to explore shipwrecks of the Eastern Mediterranean region. His students, too, don snorkels or scuba gear and work underwater.
Marine archeology, Leidwanger says, provides a privileged perspective on ancient history.

“There is a lot of theoretical work on the maritime economy of the Roman Empire, but I am interested in the close details of sea travel and how archeological finds can shed light on the history of consumption and connectivity around the Mediterranean,” said Leidwanger.

The social networks established by sea travel, Leidwanger says, were the basis of commerce during the Roman Empire, and in the shipwrecks and harbors he is able to see evidence of “who was interacting with whom and how and when these objects were being transported and for what reason.”
Leidwanger’s aim is to bring together the theoretical models of ancient economics and socioeconomic connectivity with hard data from his underwater fieldwork.
“The Roman Empire was the most complex state structure at the time with a lot of movement of goods and people through the landscape,” Leidwanger said. “I am interested in how these structures and social networks change over the life of the Roman Empire.”
He is currently engaged in two projects, the Marzamemi Maritime Heritage Project in Sicily and the Burgaz Harbors Project in Turkey.

“Sicily was a nexus of communication and commerce between the eastern and western Roman Mediterranean. In the shipwrecks there, we are finding evidence of the changing patterns of commerce when the capital moved from Rome to Constantinople in the 4thcentury A.D.,” Leidwanger notes.

In Turkey, archeologists are currently excavating four shallow-water harbors to get a picture of what the harbor structures were like. In the 4th century B.C., during the late Classical period, Burgaz became a regional and international economic center for the export of agricultural goods.

“We are finding evidence of how these integral structures changed over time,” Leidwanger says.

Uncovering history in the mare nostrum

The location of Leidwanger’s current research is key to uncovering archeological data about the importance of the Mediterranean Sea for the Romans.
“The Mediterranean Sea has been described as an ‘inverted continent,’ a zone of human culture and relationships centered on the sea rather than land, a product of geography that led me to focus on the maritime,” Leidwanger said.
To undertake his research, Leidwanger maps and excavates marine sites to understand what was being transported and when.
At sites in Sicily or Turkey, where he travels each summer with Stanford students, Leidwanger excavates harbors and shipwrecks that often contain well-preserved artifacts that he can analyze in the lab.

“The great thing about shipwrecks is that I often find intact pottery jars, which are very helpful, as you can then determine their capacity, what they transported and how they were used.”

These artifacts, he says, often provide glances into their history.
“They sometimes have inscriptions on them, one scratched over another, so I can establish a life history of those objects, which can then quantifiably fit into a larger history on the movement of objects and the nature of consumption in maritime antiquity,” Leidwanger said.
“In Sicily, I have raised artifacts from half a mile off the coast of Marzamemi, where there are a dozen shipwrecks, including vessels carrying massive granite columns and prefabricated marble architectural elements, probably to be used in an early Byzantine church during the 6th century,” he said.

High-tech teamwork

Leidwanger’s work is an international operation. In his two current projects in Sicily and Turkey, Leidwanger has collaborators from Canada, Italy, Turkey and Israel. Stanford students also play a fundamental role on the field trips.
“Our students get a lot of field experience in different parts of the world. This summer, I’ll be taking a number of undergraduates and graduates with me to both Turkey and Sicily. It is a cultural experience, and one in which the students’ input is vital,” Leidwanger said.
Megan Daniels, a graduate student in classics, works with Leidwanger on the site in Turkey, assisting with pottery analysis.

“We perform visual and scientific analyses on the ceramics to better understand local and long-distance trade routes and the long-term dynamics of the maritime economy. Working with the raw materials of trade to contribute to a broader picture of the ancient economy is very exciting,” Daniels said.

Technology plays a key role in the equipment- and cost-intensive world of marine archeology. Sonar and other remote sensing technologies help to find and contextualize sites, while innovative computer applications allow archaeologists to create 3-D maps of the seabed.
“It is important to choose the right tools for the right occasion, and you need to have the right research questions. What goods were moving, and why? How did this change over time? These are the questions that motivate me,” Leidwanger said.
Marissa Ferrante, an undergraduate majoring in archeology, traveled to Sicily as part of the team last summer.
According to Ferrante, who is currently creating a 3-D topographic map of the site and the seabed, “Excavating underwater sites and collecting data in the field has allowed me to relate classroom discussions of theories and archaeological best practices to real-world applications.”

Preserving cultural heritage

Leidwanger and his team use technological tools to map the site and then set up a conservation lab to begin analysis.
“Underwater artifacts tend to soak up salt, so they need long-term treatment. Wood, pottery, stone and metal all need different treatment processes. At our colleagues’ lab in Turkey, for example, they are still conserving and mending pottery that was excavated in the 1980s and 1990s.”
After the artifacts are extracted and restored, they are often exhibited in museums and used to highlight heritage issues and establish marine preserves.
Leidwanger, who teaches a class on archeological ethics, is passionate about the process of sustainable archeology.
“Legal jurisdictions, particularly underwater, aren’t always well defined, and heritage and preservation therefore become key issues. The sovereignty over sites and excavated materials can be unclear and there are some opportunists around.”
Leidwanger makes an effort to situate his research within a broader dialogue on natural and cultural heritage practices. In Sicily, for example, he said he is “helping to implement state-of-the-art site management alongside local initiatives for environmentally sustainable tourism and economic development.”
For Leidwanger, archeology is more than just looking at artifacts and excavation sites:
“For me, it is about establishing and maintaining cultural heritage so that we can better understand history. It is about social networks and human relationships with objects and places, relationships that are as important today as they were in the past.”

http://artdaily.com/news/68875/The-British-Library-acquires-two-rare-manuscripts-preventing-them-from-leaving-the-UK#.UzcZwIV_0f1

http://artdaily.com/news/68875/The-British-Library-acquires-two-rare-manuscripts-preventing-them-from-leaving-the-UK#.UzcZwIV_0f1