Spring 2013, Horn, Austria

Further education course held by Roberto Padoan, Restaurator and Marvin Klein. Roberto Padoan is recently working at the Nationaal Archief Conservation & Restoration Department, The Hague, Netherlands. Marvin Klein is recently working at Art Innovation B.V., Netherlands.

 

Pre-knowledge of course participants

No previous knowledge of physic and chemistry is required from the participants because the basic principles of multispectral analysis and their application in the field of conservation will be expounded in the first part of the course.

Content of the course

The course is mainly intended for conservators and curators of historical materials preserved in archives and libraries. Professional figures involved in historical studies of documents such as archivists, paleographers and historians can also benefit from the content of this course. However, the main focus will be the application of spectral imaging for monitoring aging process in the field of paper conservation.
Participants will receive basic knowledge to critically and objectively evaluate qualitative and quantitative spectral data for chemometric analysis, monitoring applications and historical study of library and archive materials.
Theory and practical applications with various multispectral and environmental monitoring instruments will also provide participants with enough knowledge to generate by themselves a multispectral documentation of the analyzed documents.

Program

Day one

General introduction of physical principles
Introduction to the physic principles of optics, digital imaging and remote sensing. These are essential in order to give to the participants a sufficient base for the correct understanding of the content of the course and encourage the use of a correct terminology in the field of conservation and restoration. Many of these subjects will be treated with a theory introduction followed by practical experiments and setups.
Study points:

• Optical principles of a camera/image acquisition
• Electromagnetic waves
• The electromagnetic spectrum
• The nature of light and its interaction with materials
• Reflectance, transmittance and fluorescence
• Spectrometers
• Colour measuring

 

Day two

Qualitative multispectral imaging
A broad view of the subject is given towards the description of practical applications in the field of conservation/restoration both from the past and recent time. Practical experiments and case studies are presented and discussed. Samples brought from the Nationaal Archief (National Archives of the Netherlands) will be mainly used, but case studies brought from participants are also welcome. This section is also thought to bring enough knowledge to the participants on how to prepare a basic multispectral setting in a common conservation laboratory by using inexpensive tools and allow them to understand the meaning of resulting data.
Study points:  

• History of multispectral imaging
• Light sources for imaging
• Filtering techniques
• Forensic analysis
• Basic Settings preparation
• Analysis and understanding of the data (qualitative)
• False colour imaging

Day three

Quantitative hyperspectral imaging
The main differences between quantitative and qualitative measurements are described, with particular stress on the quality of data and the possible applications and limits of the two imaging techniques. Reproducibility of the measurements and the analysis of quantitative data is described and than practically applied by the participants. 
Study points:

• Differences between multispectral and quantitative hyperspectral imaging
• Quantitative analysis
• Calibration
• Reference standards
• Reproducibility
• Analysis of quantitative data
• Multichannel analysis (Principal component analysis (PCA) /Spectral Classification)

Day four

Condition monitoring of historical objects
The practical application of quantitative multi and hyperspectral imaging as a monitoring tool is described, focusing on the type and way to organize information necessary for the condition assessment of historical objects.
Study points:

• Database of environmental condition
• Monitoring aging process
• Comparison of multiple datacubes

 

 

The course language will be English. The deadline for application is one mounth before the course starts. The course fee plus accommodation (3 nights) is 790.00 € plus 10% VAT. The number of participants is restricted to 15. »»» Registration
 
 
The venue is the Renaissance castle housing the European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration.

Accommodation during the course is within the building and is included in the price.
 
After application you will be provided with further information.
 
Participant also can bring own samples if they wish to.