{"id":2247,"date":"2023-08-29T14:24:22","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/bodies-emotions-material-culture\/?p=2247"},"modified":"2023-08-29T14:24:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:24:22","slug":"whitworth-conservation-work-with-the-collectives-collection-of-digital-microscopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/bodies-emotions-material-culture\/2023\/08\/29\/whitworth-conservation-work-with-the-collectives-collection-of-digital-microscopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitworth Conservation Work with the Collective’s Collection of Digital Microscopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Bodies, Emotions and Material Culture Collective holds a substantial number of digital microscopes that are administered by Professor Stefan Han\u00df. These microscopes are used by various members of the Collective, in particular PhD students and Early as well as Mid-Career Researchers across the humanities. The microscopes are also available to conservators and curators to conduct conservatory and cultural heritage science work and research on Manchester\u2019s outstanding special collections. Moreover, these digital microscopes are used for teaching. The Collective also offers regular training sessions. If you wish to use any of the microscopes, please contact stefan.hanss [ at ] manchester.ac.uk.<\/em><\/p>\n

Housed at the Faculty of Humanities, this makes the University of Manchester the home of the largest collection of digital microscopes compared to any other humanities faculty in the country.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this guest blog entry, Sarah Potter, Conservator (Object and Preventive) at The Whitworth, University of Manchester, reports on her use of the microscope in preparation for the acclaimed exhibition <\/em>Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2019s Material World<\/a>, on show till 10 March 2024<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The Whitworth holds a wonderful collection, spanning over 60,000 objects which range from paper, textiles, paintings and sculpture. As part of the preparations for the D\u00fcrer Exhibition at the Whitworth (see image above), a polychrome sculpture called a Piet\u00e1 needed to be treated. The Piet\u00e0, traditionally from a church was a sculpture popular from the end of the 14th<\/sup> century; so-called as it was intended to cause the viewer to feel pity or compassion, a direct translation of the Italian word. Piet\u00e0s were designed for intimate settings due to their emotive nature rather than to be at the central altar (Wixom, 1988: 35). The Whitworth sculpture reflects on broader devotional and emotional atmospheres in Renaissance Germany and \u201caligns with D\u00fcrer\u2019s meditation on the weakness of [the] earthly body\u201d, as shown in Holly Fletcher\u2019s recent study of the Whitworth Piet\u00e0, published in the Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2018s Material World<\/em> exhibition catalogue (Fletcher, 2023: 121).<\/p>\n

Most polychrome sculpture have experienced significant change over time with many having been repainted or even stripped of all their decorative elements to reveal surfaces unintended to be seen (Marincola, 2000:99). This Pieta was no exception and has undergone interventive treatments from paint removal, stabilisation and reconstruction. The use of the Dino-Lite, thanks to SALC\/Faculty of Humanities, was able to highlight some of the past restorations which occurred to the sculpture prior to the 1970\u2019s when it came into the Whitworth\u2019s collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can see from Figure 1 the previous wax infills to offers some structural integrity to the sculpture after an insect infestation. The imagining also revealed the damage to the decorative surface of the object (Figure 2).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Wax infilled holed from conservation work in 1971 to aid the stabilisation of insect holes. \u00a9 Sarah Potter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Figure 2: Significant cracking of the paint and gesso layers and a previous wax infill. \u00a9 Sarah Potter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Not only did the microscope reveal contemporary additions to the sculpture but I was able to identify some original pigments, much of which was thought to have been removed or overpainted over the years. These pigments were in difficult to reach areas, but the digital microscope was able to catch a glimpse of what was almost undetectable\u2014the last remnants of original pink toned flesh (Figure 3), some red pigmentation around Jesus\u2019 cloak (Figure 4) and some deep blue pigments from inside Mary\u2019s hood (Figure 5).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"ADMic3\"<\/p>\n

Figure 3: Pink flesh toned pigments around Mary\u2019s head scarf. \u00a9 Sarah Potter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"ADMic4\"<\/p>\n

Figure 4: Historic red pigmentation along the green cloak. \u00a9 Sarah Potter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"ADMic5\"<\/p>\n

Figure 5: Blue pigments can be seen in Mary\u2019s hood. \u00a9 Sarah Potter.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Understanding what was original to the sculpture was intrinsic to the conservation work undertaken to stabilise the object for the exhibition. You can see the sculpture on display as part of the exhibition Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2019s Material World<\/em> until 10th<\/sup> March 2024 at The Whitworth, Manchester.<\/p>\n

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This report was written by Sarah Potter.<\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/em><\/p>\n

Fletcher, H. 2023. The Whitworth\u2019s Sculpted Piet\u00e0 from Renaissance Germany. In: Wouk, E. H., and Spinks, J. Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2019s Material World, 121\u201325. Manchester: Manchester University Press and The Whitworth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Marincola, M. 2000. The Surfaces of Riemenschneider. In: Chapuis, J. Tilman Riemenscheider: Master Sculptor of the Later Middle Ages. Washington DC and New Haven: National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Yale University Press.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wixom, W. D. 1988. Medieval Sculpture at the Cloisters. In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Winter 1988\u201389.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Image credit, top image above: Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2019s Material World exhibition at the Whitworth. Image courtesy of Michael Pollard.<\/em><\/p>\n

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