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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, December 3, 2018 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

photo of Keats Webb

E. Keats Webb

"Digital Imaging for Conservation of the National Portrait Gallery’s Lansdowne Portrait of George Washington"

ABSTRACT -- The 1796 "Lansdowne" portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart is a national treasure and an American masterpiece. The iconic painting, part of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (NPG) collection, was taken off exhibit in February 2016 to address some conservation issues, including a yellowing varnish that obscured its details. To establish a conservation treatment strategy, and to understand Stuart's original materials and working processes, CindyLou Molnar, Head of NPG Conservation, embarked on an 18-month project in collaboration with E. Keats Webb, Digital Imaging Specialist at the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). Digital imaging of the portrait included ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence, infrared reflectography, and digital x-radiography. Information obtained from the analysis led to a successful cleaning that revealed the artist's original intent and the portrait's brilliance. The project was supported by a generous grant from the Bank of America.

SPEAKER -- E. Keats Webb is the digital imaging specialist at the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). She is completing a PhD at the University of Brighton as part of the Science and Engineering in Arts Heritage and Archaeology Centre for Doctoral Training, and has an MRes in Heritage Science from University College London and a B.F.A. in photography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been working at the Museum Conservation Institute since 2009 using a variety of scientific and computational imaging techniques to aid in the research and conservation of Smithsonian collections.


Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov