Molly Faries, Indiana University & Groningen University, Re-reading the Evidence: Perspectives on Technical Studies of Early Netherlandish Painting Ron Spronk, Harvard University Art Museum, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Early Years of Conservation and Technical Examinations of Netherlandish Paintings at the Fogg Art Museum J.R.J. Van Asperen de Boer, Professor Emeritus, Groningen University, Slowly towards Improved Infrared Reflectography Equipment Peter Klein, University of Hamburg, Dendrochronological Analyses of Netherlandish Paintings E. Melanie Gifford, Susana Halpne and Suzanne Quillen Lomax, National Gallery of Art, Issues surrounding the painting medium: a case study of a pre-Eyckian altarpiece Teri Hensick, Harvard University Art Museums, The Fogg's Copy After a Lost Van Eyck: Conservation History, Resent Treatment and Technical Examination of the Woman at Her Toilet Gianfranco Pocobene and Ron Spronk, Harvard University Art Museums, The Fogg's Virgin and Child from the Workshop of Dirck Bouts: Findings from Technical Examinations and Recent Conservation Treatment Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums, Digital Imaging for the Study of Paintings: Experiences at the Straus Center for Conservation Maryan W. Ainsworth, Metropolitan Museum of Art, What's in a name? The Question of Attribution in Early Netherlandish Painting "The volume brings together the connoisseurship and experience of outstanding scholars and leading scientists. It will highly benefit to all working in the field of technical examination." (H. Verougstraete in Sehepunkte, 5 (2005), nr. 2, 15.02.2005)u

The nine papers collected in this publication- which comprises the third and latest edition to the symposium volumes by the Metropolitan Museum of Art - were first presented in conjunction with the Museum's exhibition of Early Netherlandish painting culled from its own holdings in 1998. The essays, by an international roster of leading specialists, together uncover the circumstances underlying the creation of works of art and shed new light on their meaning, in the context of the growing interdisciplinary activity and burgeoning scholarship in the field. The importance of archival research into the socio-economic factors that existed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries is emphasized- especially, the impact of art markets on the production of paintings as well as sculpture. Much new material has surfaced as a result of advances in the technical investigation of works of art, underscoring the premise that the clues to the meaning of a work are often found not only in its method of manufacture but also in the specific audience for which it was intended and in the function that it originally served for that audience. -- Publisher description.

Examines the application of scientific methods to the study and conservation of art and cultural properties. This work addresses scientific topics of broad interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines and attracting up to 250 leadingresearchers in the field.

"Any contemporary understanding of early Netherlandish paintings must take into account not only that historical data about them is fragmentary but also that art historians have used a variety of premises from which to study the works. This book, therefore, explores how the paintings of the period and the factual knowledge surrounding them have been assembled, analyzed, and interpreted from their rediscovery in the early nineteenth century to the present day." "Assembling these multiple perspectives in one volume, the editors underscore the common ground shared by their colleagues and intend thereby to advance the scholarly dialogue among them."--BOOK JACKET.

An illustrated scholarly analysis of the art and the cultural interpretations of the Flemish Primitives.