Art of the Past: Sources and Reconstructions
Edited by Mark Clarke, Joyce H. Townsend, and Ad Stijnman

ISBN: 1-904892-01-8 • $65 • Paper

In October 2004, the Art Technological Source Research study group held a symposium at the Instituut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam: Approaching the Art of the Past: Sources & Reconstructions. Recipe books, treatises and manuals on artists' materials, tools and methods are of fundamental importance for an understanding of how art objects were made. Historically accurate reconstructions on the basis of these sources provide insight into the original appearance of an object, as well as workshop practices, and provide models for understanding material degradation. The interpretation of artists' intent rests on this kind of basic knowledge. For example: Van Gogh never intended the blossoms in his series of orchard paintings (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) to appear quite as pale as they look today. How would they have looked originally? The recipe sources and reconstructions may answer this and help us understand what has happened. The proceedings of the highly successful symposium at the Instituut Collectie Nederland, Amsterdam: Approaching the Art of the Past: Sources & Reconstructions , held by the Art Technological Source Research, concern the role of source research and the use of reconstructions in the emerging field of art technological research.