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O Sech'ang embarked on an ambitious cultural project by acquiring impressive numbers of Korean painting and calligraphy during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945). This article examines how O Sech'ang played a critical role in shaping the understanding of Korean art and in shifting the collecting pattern at the personal or institutional levels. By focusing on Kŭnyŏk hwahwi (Collections of Korean Painting) and Kŭnyŏk sŏhwi (Collections of Korean Calligraphy), it demonstrates that O Sech'ang engaged in collecting practices as a means of articulating Korean cultural identity built upon his own standing as a literatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we compare Western oil paintings and Chinese ink paintings on their composition, by extracting and computing 28 composition features of the paintings, including visual balance and relationships between different regions (segments). Among the extracted segments, we compute average distance and rule-based features based on three layout rules, rule of thirds, golden mean and golden triangle. A total of 2253 paintings including 1138 oil paintings and 1115 Chinese ink paintings are collected. By comparing the results of the features on these paintings, our study investigates the difference and similarity between the two types of paintings on composition. Their composition designs are similar in visual balance and their tendency of composing along two diagonal lines, but are fairly different on many other aspects. For example, oil paintings are inclined to place objects on the bottom horizontal dividing lines of rule of thirds and golden mean. Having discovered the most important features that can differentiate the two types of paintings, we analyze the differences in the features and discuss their possible relationships to the culture and artists' backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article starts from a cue provided by some Algonquian etymologies, from the Proto Algonquian term *wi-nteko-wa, through a series of cognates in the various Algonquian languages. These words develop four meanings: that of windigo, a cannibal spirit or a human who becomes a cannibal, that of owl, that of specter, ghost, and that of madman, jester. Connected to these meanings, there are a series of gods, mythical characters, practitioners of the sacred and ceremonies, whose origins are prehistoric and are linked to the diffusion of the cultural-ritual-economic-bellic complex of corn farming from Mesoamerica to the Great Lakes. The importance of the Venus cycles, the relationship between the Morning Star, warfare, and winter, and the Wabenowin, the Dawn Society of the Anishinabe tribes are prominent within this complex. Finally, I will explore the meaning of the Wabeno paintings of the drum collected by Beltrami in 1823 and housed in the E. Caffi Museum in Bergamo, Italy, as well as its probable owner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we present the first analytical study of the painting "Christ in Gethsemane" (from a parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Żagań, Silesia, Poland) which attribution to Michael Willmann (1630–1706) has been questioned recently by art historians. After some preliminary non‐invasive investigations, the painting was subjected to Macro XRF scanning. The further detailed study of micro‐samples became essential although of limited scope since, given the painting's historical value, their number had to be strictly limited. The application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) allowed selecting areas of the original paint layer and collecting samples representative of the artist's technique. Further study analysis of the cross‐sections stratigraphy using UV–VIS optical microscopy and SEM‐EDS analysis supported the conclusions derived from MA‐XRF images. All the results were compared with a reference database containing information about various painting materials used by M. Willmann during all his artistic periods which finally allowed for negative attribution of the painting to the master. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we present the first analytical study of the painting "Christ in Gethsemane" (from a parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Żagań, Silesia, Poland) which attribution to Michael Willmann (1630–1706) has been questioned recently by art historians. After some preliminary non‐invasive investigations, the painting was subjected to Macro XRF scanning. The further detailed study of micro‐samples became essential although of limited scope since, given the painting's historical value, their number had to be strictly limited. The application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) allowed selecting areas of the original paint layer and collecting samples representative of the artist's technique. Further study analysis of the cross‐sections stratigraphy using UV–VIS optical microscopy and SEM‐EDS analysis supported the conclusions derived from MA‐XRF images. All the results were compared with a reference database containing information about various painting materials used by M. Willmann during all his artistic periods which finally allowed for negative attribution of the painting to the master. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The works and personalities of the Artists of new era of the modernization process of Turkish Art, who was born during the end of Ottoman empire and trained during the Republic of Turkey, have always been the subject of research. Nuri İyem, one of the important names of the artists of the new period of Turkish painting, is discussed in this study and his paintings on migration are evaluated. Many Turkish painting artists have painted about the phenomenon of migration, which is one of the important breaking points of social change, but the fact that Nuri İyem has a printed work in which only his migration themed paintings are collected, made it possible to analyze the artist’s works more effectively in the context of color. Nuri İyem has had a critical attitude on the rootlessness of modern art in Turkey, and he argued that the characteristics of our own reality should be found on the basis of modernization and creating a universal art with an attitude that feeds on its own social realities. The main axis of this research is to analyze and reveal the color structure that the artist uses in his works, which aims to combine modernity with locality through computer programs. In addition to the source scanning technique, this study was carried out with a qualitative method using frequency analysis techniques through software to determine the proportions of colors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The works and personalities of the Artists of new era of the modernization process of Turkish Art, who was born during the end of Ottoman empire and trained during the Republic of Turkey, have always been the subject of research. Nuri İyem, one of the important names of the artists of the new period of Turkish painting, is discussed in this study and his paintings on migration are evaluated. Many Turkish painting artists have painted about the phenomenon of migration, which is one of the important breaking points of social change, but the fact that Nuri İyem has a printed work in which only his migration themed paintings are collected, made it possible to analyze the artist’s works more effectively in the context of color. Nuri İyem has had a critical attitude on the rootlessness of modern art in Turkey, and he argued that the characteristics of our own reality should be found on the basis of modernization and creating a universal art with an attitude that feeds on its own social realities. The main axis of this research is to analyze and reveal the color structure that the artist uses in his works, which aims to combine modernity with locality through computer programs. In addition to the source scanning technique, this study was carried out with a qualitative method using frequency analysis techniques through software to determine the proportions of colors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The in situ formation of lead–sulfur inorganic compounds in historical oil paintings can have a strong detrimental effect on an artwork's physical and visual integrity. In this paper, paint micro-samples collected from several paintings from the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) and Mauritshuis (The Hague) collections were probed using a combination of synchrotron micro-XRD and micro-XRD-CT. This permitted precise identification of the chemical nature of the in situ formed crystalline compounds as well as charting their distribution within paint layers at the microscopic level. This provided new information on the origin of the ions involved in the crystallization of the various newly formed mineral lead–sulfur products. The formation of palmierite K2Pb(SO4)2, anglesite PbSO4 and lanarkite Pb2(SO4)O in historical samples can thus be connected to the paint stratigraphic build-up, environmental conditions and potential past restoration treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide-ranging conversation between artist Amy Sillman, Museum of Modern Art curator Michelle Kuo, and October editor David Joselit on Sillman's influential Artist's Choice exhibition, The Shape of Shape, presented in the reopening of MoMA's galleries in 2019. Topics range from the re-introduction of intuition into histories of contemporary painting to strategies for expanding the modernist canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The numerous documentation preserved in the General Archive of the Indies allows delving the links between Europe and America from different perspectives and fields of study over almost six centuries. Our interest lies in the analysis of the artistic works contained in a series of inventories of people linked to the Royal Audience of Mexico in 1622, thus being able to obtain further evidence of the existence of the collecting of paintings and sculptures in the Mexican viceregal environment. From this information, we will be able to verify the typology of the artistic pieces most requested by the society of New Spain, as well as the origin of them, thus highlighting commercial systems such as the Carrera de Indias, and underlining the relevance of the Cultural exchanges between Europe and America in the first decades of the 17th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored the background of the leisure boom among the literati in the late Ming Dynasty from the aspects of politics, economy, ideology and social environment, and elaborated the leisure styles of the literati in terms of enjoying a sightseeing tour, sampling wine and tea, appreciating and collecting calligraphy and painting works, favoring theatergoing, indulging in dallying with prostitutes, practicing meditation, and building gardens, and analyzed the influence of their leisure styles on the painting and calligraphy art, drama, literary creation, garden construction and other aspects of the society at that time. It is hoped that this paper can provide a deep understanding of social politics, economy, ideology and culture in the late Ming Dynasty and a reference for the development of the current leisure tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A complementary analysis of Rafał Hadziewicz's works, performed on a series of paintings from the Cracow and Kielce collections, allowed the characterization of his palette. • The palette of the painter consists of 20 paints based on the traditional pigments, in use for centuries, as well as on those invented in the nineteenth century. Abstract The aim of this work was to research 21 oil paintings created in the nineteenth century by Polish painter and academic professor Rafał Hadziewicz (1803–1886). The recognition of the artist's palette and the pigments used was significant due to Hadziewicz's influence on subsequent generations of Polish painters. The studies were based mainly on the use of non-invasive techniques, supplemented with a complementary physicochemical analysis. On the basis of the studies carried out, it can be stated that the artist's palette consisted of 20 paints. Like many other nineteenth-century painters, he used the typical paints available on the market of his time. The obtained results can provide support in authentication studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a reconstruction of the deanery of St Paul's Cathedral at the time of the death of John Donne (Dean 1621–1631). The reconstruction stems from two documents: Donne's will of 1631, and a survey of the deanery when it was in parliamentary hands in 1649. The will is remarkable because it details bequests of 21 paintings, all but three specified by their location in rooms throughout the deanery. The original number of paintings was larger, as some were to remain. By comparing the will with the survey, it is possible to allocate paintings to specific rooms and in effect walk round the house, at least on its ground floor, in 1631 or 1649. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the authentication of paintings signed by French artist Antoine Blanchard. It states that one expert believes that most of these painting were not done by Marcel Masson which was the real name of Blanchard. The author also discusses a collector from Chicago, Illinois who is selling his home including his collection of Blanchard's paintings.

This article describes the life and career of the former Russian diplomat and art collector Nicolas de Basily (1883–1963), including a detailed history of his family background. Together with his second wife, Lascelle Meserve de Basily (1890–1989), he built a remarkable art and library collection, including paintings, furniture, and other decorative art objects. Considerable detail is provided on the art collection, as well as its provenance, especially with dealers such as Nicolas and Pavla de Koenigsberg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a leg injury in the 1930s caused artist Romaine Brooks (1874–1970) to remain bedridden, the result was a written autobiography and a series of drawings that can also be seen as a form of parallel, although unconscious, autobiography. Presenting newly discovered archival information that substantiates rumours about Brooks’ illegitimate child, I argue that these drawings, with their themes of a haunted past, regret, motherhood, and lack of self-determination, and their uterine and foetal imagery, may be read as a new genre of non-textual autobiography having affinities with surrealism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz time-domain imaging (THz -TDI) has been applied for nondestructive visualization of a hidden painting and other subsurface composition layers of a seventeenth-century panel painting belonging to the National Gallery of Denmark. Plan-type and cross-sectional scans realized by THz have been compared with images obtained by X-radiography, thus helping in a deep understanding of the strengths and limitations of this technique for art diagnostic purposes and in defining its rule among the other complementary investigation tools for nondestructive inspection of art pieces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a brief information of Guillaume Lebelle, a French artist, featuring his paintings including the Derriere Lisa, 2011, Un Rocher Vint Me Voir, 2013, and Blanqui III, 2012.

Professor Michael Sullivan (1916-2013) bequeathed to Oxford's Ashmolean Museum a collection of twentieth-century paintings that the museum lauds as "the single greatest private collection of contemporary Chinese art in the West" (Telegraph 2013). This essay remembers Professor Sullivan, his wife Khoan (d. 2003), and the collection that they parented over a period of almost seventy years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a pilot study researching values and opinions of the general public regarding medieval wall paintings in Danish churches. It also addresses restoration issues, focusing primarily on the retouching, reconstruction and overpainting of images. The data have been obtained from questionnaires returned by 179 subjects. These were not representative of the Danish population in general, with women outnumbering men (65.4% versus 34.6%) and with high church attendance (48% ‘regularly’, 25.7% ‘frequently’) as the differentiating characteristics. The major finding of this study was that in this group, it was important to understand the pictorial content (58.7% ‘very important’, 35.2% ‘important’) and the narrative substance (rated as the highest value by 60.9%). The significance of these preferences for professional considerations regarding image integration is discussed. It is concluded that survey studies of this type provide a useful tool in shaping the dialogue between conservators and the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of vibration levels that cause damage to canvas paintings travelling on loan has been hampered by the lack of direct measurements of the dimensional change of the canvas. The application of triangulation laser displacement sensors in this study has allowed direct, continuous in situ monitoring of the vibration of canvas during packing, handling and transporting by road of three nineteenth-century oil paintings from the collection of the National Museum in Cracow, Poland. The measurements showed various levels of vibration primarily influenced by the packing method: paintings wrapped in tissue and transported in soft cardboard boxes were better cushioned from the vibration than a painting rigidly fixed in a wooden case. However, increased levels of vibration were always measured during packing the paintings and transferring the cases or boxes to and from the road vehicle, which emphasizes the need to train staff to handle the paintings with care when they are still in the museum. The strains induced by the vibration levels recorded were much lower than the critical levels of tolerable strain for the nineteenth-century canvas paintings quoted in the conservation literature. Therefore the paintings are unlikely to be endangered by fracture or fatigue damage under the transportation conditions monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last twenty years, there has been an upward trend in requests to borrow works of art from Tate. As demands from increasingly diverse institutions have grown, so Tate’s policies have adapted to allow greater access to the collection. As a consequence, the role of the conservator has changed, and risk assessments in relation to the loans programme have been re-evaluated. This paper uses recent collection data to draw comparisons between past and present loan procedures and to identify where and why practices have changed. An assessment of the physical consequences to the paintings collection is summarised. Based on this research, the sustainability of increased physical access to Tate’s collection is evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work the variability of the structure and chemical composition of the paint coating were investigated using FT-IR and Raman spectroscopies. Paint samples were collected from 30 car bodies from both metal and plastic parts of each car. The morphological characteristics of all samples were also analysed. It was found that in many cases the composition of the paint coating in various places differed significantly, in spite of the same final colour of the coating. The obtained information on the variation of the chemical contents within a car body has provided great support in the process of evaluation of analytical findings in real forensic cases. Image 1 • Paint chips collected from car body and bumpers of different cars were examined. • Layer structure and chemical composition of the paint binder were determined. • Differences in the layering and composition were observed within individual vehicles. • They depend on the kind of surface (metal, plastic) on which paint was deposited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• While much progress has been made in developing hyperspectral cameras for collecting high quality reflectance image cubes from works of art, little work has been done to create optimized image analysis tools to mine these rich and large data sets. • Automated convex geometry algorithms are good candidates for pigment classification of reflectance imaging spectroscopy (RIS) data from paintings. • The proposed Maximum Distance (MaxD) algorithm performs well with automatic classification of paintings from RIS data cubes. Significant reduction in computation time, as well as a lack of tunable parameters makes this method desirable. • Spectral libraries have great use for visually comparing spectral features to help with pigment identification. Direct matching by algorithm is problematic because of normal variations in hue, scattering and the fact most paint layers are not optical thick enough in the near infrared. Knowledge of pigments and their distribution in paintings can inform conservators and scholars to better understand, and conserve these objects. In recent years, a variety of macro-scale non-contact imaging modalities have been applied to paintings to create classification/material maps. One modality, reflectance imaging spectroscopy (RIS) captures the diffuse reflectance spectral signatures of the artists' materials present in the objects which can be used for classification (by defining regions of the image cube that have the same spectral reflectance signature). In Cultural Heritage Science the ENVI spectral hourglass wizard (ENVI-SHW) has been used to create classification maps from RIS. This method is slow and requires an expert user input during the processing in order to find the reflectance spectra that define the spectral classes (spectral endmembers or exemplars). The pigments are then deduced from spectral features in endmember spectra and from other non-invasive analytical chemical analysis of sites defined by the RIS maps. This paper explores the potential of more automated algorithms, such as maximum distance (MaxD), that are based on the theory of convex hulls for doing these classifications as well as spectral matching algorithms to an optimal spectral library. While all of these algorithms were developed for Remote Sensing community, MaxD and the library matching examine all the spectra in the reflectance image cube, require little user input, and are reproducible and fast. The results from the analysis of reflectance image cubes (400 to 950 nm) of three paintings with MaxD and a spectral library matching algorithm are presented and compared to those obtained with the ENVI-SHW algorithm. The three paintings analyzed are the central panels from illuminated leafs, two from the Laudario of Sant'Agnese (c. 1340) painted by the Master of the Dominican Effigies, namely The Nativity with the Annunciation to the Shepherds and, Christ and the Virgin Enthroned with Forty Saints , and one cutting from a leaf from a Choir book, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata , painted by Cosmè Tura (c. 1470s). Specifically, the results include the spectral endmembers recovered from each method as well as the associated classification maps. The findings from this study show that the MaxD algorithm was able to find the majority of the reflectance spectral endmembers with little user input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]