This year’s Margaret Scolari Barr Lecture in Fine Arts was presented by Dianne Dwyer Modestini, Clinical Professor for the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. An internationally renowned conservator, who started her career at The Met, Modestini referenced a variety of old maestro painters to discuss the meticulous process and the extraordinary technology that supports conservation work.

In her line of work, she explained, “There are gems and unexpected surprises everywhere.” Take, for example, Humility, one of six pieces that was originally painted for the Medici Villa in Italy. The Kress Foundation acquired the piece in the 1940s from a church in Pennsylvania. Modestini worked on the painting’s restoration-a process that requires careful documentation, cleaning, analyzing, and retouching. The painting had four layers of varnish; upon the cleaning and removal of each layer with a specific solvent system, new tonal balances and other details were revealed. Throughout the restoration process, Modestini shared, “There are various ways to examine a painting in order to understand how it is made.” This understanding ultimately informs restorers’ treatment of the work. 

Some of the examination tools and techniques utilized in restoration work include X-rays, infrared cameras, and chemical analysis. Modestini shared how she used infrared technology, which allows us to see initial drawings and sketches, to analyze a 1500s oil painting of Madonna and Child with Saint James Major and Saint Jermone. This technique revealed a layer in which the Madonna’s head was sketched in a very different position, indicating a shift in the artist’s original vision. According to Modestini, it is unusual for infrared technology to reveal such a dramatic effect. 

Another method Modestini described was X-ray fluorescence (XRF). XFR is often used to determine the elemental composition of paint pigments, and it can be very important for determining attribution, since artists can be identified by the specific techniques in their oeuvres. Using the example of a Venetian painting from the early 1700s, Modestini walked students through the multidisciplinary approach she took to analyzing and restoring the piece. On the left third of the painting, there is a man in a robe walking up the steps of a large building. His robe stood out to Modestini, who wondered, “Why does some paint stay so well?” She was referring to the shadows and highlights in the robe, which was composed of seven paint layers. This discovery ultimately held an important clue. 

XRF revealed the presence of arsenic, a yellow mineral that was widely used by Venetian painters before the industrial revolution. Modestini then used UV light, which exposed a bright pink color. These very small details about the use of paint could be attributed to the oeuvre of Canaletto, who rarely signed or dated his paintings.

Technologies like infrared and XRF scanning have led Modestini to surprising discoveries during her tenured career. Through the restoration and conservation process, the painting reveals its story, layer by layer.