Spatially resolved texture analysis of Napoleonic War era copper bolts

The spatial resolution achievable by a time-of-flight neutron strain scanner has been harnessed using a new data analysis methodology (NyRTex) to determine, nondestructively, the spatial variation of crystallographic texture in objects of cultural heritage. Previous studies on the crystallographic texture at the centre of three Napoleonic War era copper bolts, which demonstrated the value of this technique in differentiating between the different production processes of the different types of bolts, were extended to four copper bolts from the wrecks of HMS Impregnable (completed 1786), HMS Amethyst (1799), HMS Pomone (1805) and HMS Maeander (1840) along with a cylindrical `segment' of a further incomplete bolt from HMS Pomone. These included bolts with works stamps, allowing comparison with documentary accounts of the manufacturing processes used, and the results demonstrated unequivocally that bolts with a `Westwood and Collins' patent stamp were made using the Collins rather than the Westwood process. In some bolts there was a pronounced variation in texture across the cross section. In some cases this is consistent with what is known of the types of hot and cold working used, but the results from the latest study might also suggest that, even in the mature phase of this technology, some hand finishing was sometimes necessary. This examination of bolts from a wider range of dates is an important step in increasing our understanding of the introduction and evolution of copper fastenings in Royal Navy warships

Bleeding garments: a magical and poetic approach to the phenomenology of intensely evocative garments

I have a black dress that has been hanging dormant in my wardrobe for nearly a decade. I say dormant to suggest that the dress is not in active use but is nonetheless part of my wardrobe. What the dress looks like has become irrelevant. What matters is the way its presence brings back feelings of summer rain, the rough texture of pavement under bare feet, and that feeling of how love sometimes seems to stop time. The dress, however, is more than an anecdote; there is something very particular about how I feel in the presence of the dress. It stirs something deep within me and somehow seems to expand beyond its physical materiality. There is nothing unusual about emotional attachment to clothing and the phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by academics and artists. Existing research, however, tends to focus on cognitively produced anecdotes and there is a gap in research that considers how evocative garments actually make us feel. This research is concerned with the experience of evocative garments that evoke particularly intense emotions (intensely evocative garments) and proposes that it is our encounters with the garments in the moment that makes them meaningful as a phenomenon. The aim of this research is twofold: it seeks to explore what intensely evocative garments are and can be like as an experience and what a methodology for exploring these garments might involve. This research draws on a practice-led, interdisciplinary methodology that is underpinned by phenomenology, magical awareness, and poetry in its broader meaning. This involves exploring intensely evocative garments by applying the phenomenological attitude of wonder to practice-led experiments and to participatory workshops that invite people to ‘uncover’ poetic fragments from garments. Rather than taking the form of a traditional phenomenological text, this research also seeks to inspire phenomenological insights through practice-led outputs, such as photographs, poems, and installations. Through this in-depth exploration, this research seeks to contribute to the growing discussion on clothing and emotion and to inspire more meaningful engagement with clothes as material culture

The study of bronze statuettes with the help of neutron-imaging techniques

Until recently fabrication techniques of Renaissance bronzes have been studied only with the naked eye, microscopically, videoscopically and with X-radiography. These techniques provide information on production techniques, yet much important detail remains unclear. As part of an interdisciplinary study of Renaissance bronzes undertaken by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, neutron-imaging techniques have been applied with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of bronze workmanship during the Renaissance period. Therefore, an explanation of the fabrication techniques is given to better understand the data collected by these neutron-imaging techniques. The data was used for tomography studies, which reveal hidden aspects that could not at all or scarcely be seen using X-radiography. For this specific study, the representative bronze ‘Hercules Pomarius’ of Willem van Tetrode (ca 1520–1588) has been examined, along with 20 other Renaissance bronzes from the Rijksmuseum collection

Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy (RIS) for Operation <i>Night Watch</i>: Challenges and Achievements of Imaging Rembrandt's Masterpiece in the Glass Chamber at the Rijksmuseum

Visible and infrared reflectance imaging spectroscopy is one of the several non-invasive techniques used during Operation Night Watch for the study of Rembrandt's iconic masterpiece The Night Watch (1642). The goals of this project include the identification and mapping of the artists' materials, providing information about the painting technique used as well as documenting the painting's current state and ultimately determining the possible conservation plan. The large size of the painting (3.78 m by 4.53 m) and the diversity of the technical investigations being performed make Operation Night Watch the largest research project ever undertaken at the Rijksmuseum. To construct a complete reflectance image cube at a high spatial resolution (168 µm2) and spectral resolution (2.54 to 6 nm), the painting was imaged with two high-sensitivity line scanning hyperspectral cameras (VNIR 400 to 1000 nm, 2.54 nm, and SWIR 900 to 2500 nm, 6 nm). Given the large size of the painting, a custom computer-controlled 3-D imaging frame was constructed to move each camera, along with lights, across the painting surface. A third axis, normal to the painting, was added along with a distance-sensing system which kept the cameras in focus during the scanning. A total of 200 hyperspectral image swaths were collected, mosaicked and registered to a high-resolution color image to sub-pixel accuracy using a novel registration algorithm. The preliminary analysis of the VNIR and SWIR reflectance images has identified many of the pigments used and their distribution across the painting. The SWIR, in particular, has provided an improved visualization of the preparatory sketches and changes in the painted composition. These data sets, when combined with the results from the other spectral imaging modalities and paint sample analyses, will provide the most complete understanding of the materials and painting techniques used by Rembrandt in The Night Watch

Unravelling a 17th-century prison escape: The quest to identify the original Hugo Grotius bookchest

In 1621, the humanist Hugo Grotius performed a masterly escape from life imprisonment at Loevestein Castle in the Netherlands by hiding in \na bookchest. Currently, three museums in the Netherlands (Loevestein Castle, Rijksmuseum and Museum Prinsenhof) possess chests related \nto Grotius\xe2\x80\x99 story. This study presents research carried out to decipher whether any of them couldactually claim to have been the one used for the \nescape. Inspection of the materials and structure of the chests allowed us to discard the one in Loevestein Castle from the outset, as it is unlikely \nto have been a bookchest. However, the other two most likely were, and dendrochronological research through digital photographs provided date

Technical studies of Renaissance bronzes: The use of neutron imaging and time-of-flight neutron diffraction in the studies of the manufacture and determination of historical copper objects and alloys

OLD Virtual Materials and Mechanic

The Morbid Anatomy of Emotions : Dress and Fashion as a Form of Art

This work looks at dress as a potential art form and the way the worlds of fashion and art overlap. Can fashion design be considered an art and if so when does it become art? The aim was not to find conclusive answers but to examine definitions. As this is a topic that continuously interests me, I wanted to study, question, and analyse existing opinions as well as develop my own thoughts. The first part examines the concepts of fashion and art, and it is comprised of literary research and my own thoughts on the topic. The second part focuses on the collection made as part of this work, which explores my own creativity and thoughts on dress as an art form. The two parts are closely linked and are meant to support each other. During the process I have pondered upon the definitions of fashion, art, and design and the ways they interact with each other. Although the collection is the outcome of an artistic process it is not created to be exclusively art nor is it intended as fashion. It is a creative process questioning the definitions of fashion and art, exploring the way dress can be used as a form of expression.Detta arbete handlar om dräkten som en potentiell konstform samt hur modevärlden och konstvärlden överlappar varandra. Kan modedesign anses vara konst, och i så fall när blir det konst? Syftet är inte att finna slutgiltiga svar utan att studera de olika definitionerna. Eftersom detta ämne ständigt intresserar mig ville jag forska i, ifrågasätta och analysera existerande åsikter samt utveckla mina egna tankar. Den första delen behandlar begreppen mode och konst, och består av litteraturgenomgång samt mina egna tankar kring ämnet. Den andra delen fokuserar på kollektionen jag skapat som en del av detta arbete. Med kollektionen har jag utforskat min egen kreativitet och mina tankar kring dräkten som en konstform. Dessa två delar är nära sammanbundna och det är tänkta att stöda varandra. Under processen har jag funderat kring definitionerna av mode, konst och design samt samspelet mellan dem. Även om kollektionen är ett resultat av en konstnärlig process är den inte skapad enbart för att vara konst och den är inte heller avsedd att vara mode. Arbetet är en kreativ process som ifrågasätter definitionerna av mode och konst och utforskar på vilket sätt dräkten kan användas som ett uttryckssätt.Tämä työ käsittelee pukua mahdollisena taidemuotona sekä muotimaailman ja taidemaailman suhdetta toisiinsa. Voiko muotisuunnittelua kutsua taiteeksi ja jos voi, niin milloin siitä syntyy taidetta? Tavoitteena ei ole ollut löytää lopullisia vastauksia, vaan tarkastella eri määritelmiä. Koska tämä aihe jatkuvasti kiinnostaa minua, halusin tutkia, kyseenalaistaa ja analysoida olemassa olevia käsityksiä sekä kehittää omia ajatuksiani. Ensimmäinen osa tarkastelee muoti- ja taidekäsityksiä ja kostuu kirjallisesta tutkimuksesta sekä omista pohdinnoistani. Toinen osa keskittyy mallistoon, jonka loin osana tätä työtä. Mallisto tutkiskelee omaa luovuuttani ja ajatuksiani puvusta taidemuotona. Prosessin aikana olen pohdiskellut muodin, taiteen ja muotoilun määritelmiä sekä niiden vuorovaikutusta. Vaikka mallisto on taiteellisen prosessin lopputulos, sitä ei ole luotu yksinomaan taiteeksi eikä sen ole tarkoitus olla muotia. Se on luova prosessi, joka kyseenalaistaa muodin ja taiteen määritelmiä sekä tutkiskelee, miten pukua voi käyttää ilmaisukeinona