AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The technical study of art, a valuable and rich field, is at its most effective when projects follow a collaborative approach.  Studies are frequently enhanced by and even dependent upon comparative data, whether this be underdrawings in Infrared Reflectograms, the scientific analysis of materials, or observations about the stratigraphy of paint layers.  However, obtaining such material is not always possible, and often reliant on the willingness of institutions to share information.  Recent initiatives by some museums and cultural institutions to make technical material accessible to both the scholarly and the general public in a digital form are very encouraging.  The publication of online catalogue entries of Early Netherlandish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which include technical images and reports, is one such example.

In 2014 Keith Christiansen, Chairman of the Department of European Paintings, Maryan Ainsworth, Curator in European Paintings, and Michael Gallagher, Chairman of the Department of Paintings Conservation, initiated a project to expedite publication of an online catalogue of the Early Netherlandish collection by incorporating entries into the pre-existing object pages on the website.  In addition to updated art historical research (including provenance and bibliographical references), the online catalogue entries include detailed technical descriptions and materials analysis, as well as technical images.  Significant analytical support for this project was provided by Marco Leona, Scientist in Charge of the Department of Scientific Research, Research Scientists Silvia Centeno, and Federico Caró.  This initiative has made been possible by the support of Hester Diamond and the Slifka Foundation.  

Donor funding supported the time of one conservator, Sophie Scully, who works in collaboration with Maryan Ainsworth, curatorial Fellows, and curatorial department administrative and research staff.  Content of the texts is similar in scholarship and detail to that of a traditional print catalogue, including footnotes, references, and captions.  Since 2017, all images of public-domain artworks in The Met collection can be downloaded from the website at full resolution.  This enables us to efficiently share high resolution technical images for each entry.  The publication of the entries is being accomplished in a rolling manner, as completed and, as the website format is flexible, it allows updates to be done immediately and efficiently.  

Institutions seeking to digitize technical material are each operating in their own unique landscape with different aims, resources, and constraints, hence this undertaking at the Met is not offered as a blueprint but a case study.  Outlining some of the advantages of this project as well as the practical considerations might help others seeking to launch such initiatives and to stimulate discussion.  The digital publication of technical material and scholarship online has incredible potential: it could lessen barriers to accessing and sharing material and collapse the distance between far-flung works of art and scholars.  But there are some challenges, and as this is a critical moment for these relatively new initiatives, we wish to share our experiences and ideas.