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Creating + conserving

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What is conservation?
Art Conservation Behind the Scenes
What does a conservator do?
Tools of the Trade
Scientific research glossary of terms
Conservation glossary of terms
The conservator's eye
The conservator’s eye: Marble statue of a wounded warrior
The conservator's eye: Taddeo Gaddi, Saint Julian
The conservator’s eye: a stained glass Adoration of the Magi
The conservator’s eye: Rembrandt, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
The conservator’s eye: Madame Cézanne in the Conservatory
The conservator’s eye: Anselm Kiefer, Bohemia Lies by the Sea
Painting
Materials and techniques
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Tempera paint
Oil paint in Venice
Renaissance Watercolours: materials and techniques
Gold-ground panel painting
How to stretch a large canvas
Almost Invisible: The Cartoon Transfer Process
Investigating Rothko’s Technique
About color
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Making Purple: The Science of Art
Making Green: Tempera versus Oil
The Alchemy of Color and Chemical Change in Medieval Manuscripts
How to paint like...
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How to paint like Willem de Kooning
How to paint like Franz Kline
How to paint like Yayoi Kusama
How to paint like Agnes Martin
How to paint like Jackson Pollock
How to paint like Barnett Newman
How to paint like Ad Reinhardt
How to paint like Mark Rothko
Art terms in action
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Art Terms in Action: Paint
Art Terms in Action: Turpentine Burn
Art Terms in Action: Palette Knife
Art Terms in Action: Tint, Shade, and Tone
Art Terms in Action: Emulsion
Art Terms in Action: Enamel
Art Terms in Action: Stain
Art Terms in Action: Viscosity
Conserving
Remaking a fourteenth-century triptych
Conservation of paintings
Conservation: portrait miniatures
Ghent Altarpiece project overview
Conserving a portrait of King Edward VI
Jan Gossart – Conservation Discoveries
Conserving Velázquez’s Portrait of Philip IV
Conserving Flowers in a Glass Vase
Michael Gallagher on Everhard Jabach and His Family
Conserving the Virgin of Guadalupe
Conserving Vincent van Gogh's Field with Irises near Arles
Van Gogh’s Enclosed Field with Ploughman under raking light
The Science of Van Gogh’s Bedrooms
Restoring Rothko
Conserving Flowers in a Glass Vase
Conserving Cuzco School Paintings
Sculpture
Making
Carving Marble with Traditional Tools
Quarrying and carving marble
Medieval goldsmiths – Treasures of Heaven at the British Museum
Making a Spanish polychrome sculpture
Bronze casting using the lost-wax technique
Bronze casting using the direct lost-wax method
Working jade
Conserving
The Conservation of Tullio Lombardo’s Adam
Object Conservation – Salisbury Cross
Conservation: Cast of the Pórtico de la Gloria
Contemporary Art Conservation at Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum
Conservation: The Nasrid plasterwork collection at the V&A
Conservation: Tipu’s Tiger
Conserving The Wolsey Angels
Prints, drawings, and manuscripts
Printmaking
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Introduction to printmaking
Introduction to relief printmaking
Relief process
Introduction to intaglio
Intaglio process
Lithography process
Introduction to lithography
Making and conserving manuscripts and drawings
Making manuscripts
Renaissance Watercolours: materials and techniques
Drawing with Charcoal: Historical Techniques of 19th-Century France
Science and Paper: Conserving a Drypoint by Michael Heizer
Conserving Old Master Drawings
Henri Matisse: Conserving The Swimming Pool
Photographs
Making
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Before photography (1 of 12)
The Daguerreotype (2 of 12)
Talbot’s Processes (3 of 12)
The Cyanotype (4 of 12)
The Collodion process
The Albumen Print (6 of 12)
The Platinum Print (7 of 12)
The Pigment Processes (8 of 12)
The Woodburytype (9 of 12)
The Gelatin Silver Process (10 of 12)
Color Photography (11 of 12)
Digital Photography (12 of 12)
Ceramic and lacquer
Making
What is ceramic art?
Greek Vase-Painting, an introduction
Ancient Greek vase production and the black-figure technique
Making Greek vases
Conserving
Conservation: Korean lacquer
Mosaic, metalwork and glass
Making
Glassmaking technique: free-blown glass
Mold-blown Glass
Ancient and Byzantine Mosaic Materials
Medieval Goldsmiths
Enamelling
The Electrotyping Process
How were micromosaics made?
Textiles
Making
The art of making a tapestry
Conserving
William Morris, The Bullerswood Carpet
Conserving the Emperor’s Carpet
Conservation of the Ardabil Carpet: the oldest dated carpet in the world
Conservation: Indian jama
Frames
Choosing
Framing Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth
Conserving
Behind the scenes of the framing department at The National Gallery, London
Van Dyck’s Self-portrait: The Frame and its Conservation
Architecture
Conserving
Kasbah Taourirt: Conserving Earthen Heritage in Morocco
Conservation Reel archive
What is conservation?
Lab Tour: Conservation Science
IMA Conservation: Examining a Work
IMA Conservation: The Oddy Test
IMA Conservation: Documentation Imaging
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Richard McCoy
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Linda Witkowski
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Kristen Adsit
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Gregory Smith
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with David Miller
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Amanda Holden
IMA Conservation: 5 Questions with Aaron Steele
Manuscripts and works on paper
How to Examine a Work on Paper
Wrapping Paper Objects for Hand Transport
Painting
Conservation Notes: Tom Thomson’s The West Wind
Finding the Lost Crucifix in a Perugino Panel Painting
Finding the Original Context of Rosselli’s Kneeling Angel
Examining a Panel Painting
IMA Conservation: Cleaning a Painting
IMA Conservation: Pigment Analysis with XRF Spectrometry
What X-Rays of a Vivarini Reveal About Its Past
Examining a Veronese with XRF Spectrometry
Sebastiano Mainardi: The Science of Art Installation, Behind the Scenes
Sculpture + installation
Lab Tour: Objects and Variable Art
Preserving Art: Tara Donovan's Untitled (Plastic Cups)
Tara Donovan’s Untitled (Mylar)
Artist Max Dean on the conservation of As Yet Untitled
Talking Chaos with Roland Wetzel
A Conversation with Robert Irwin on Light and Space III
IMA Conservation: The Lightbulbs in Light and Space III
Evidence of Lost Wax Casting
Textiles
IMA Conservation: Preparing a Mola Garment for Display
IMA Conservation: Preparing Mola Textiles for Display
Frames
Examining a 17th-century frame
Architecture
The Making of the Bartholomew County Veterans Memorial
Modern Architecture as Heritage
Talks + symposia
Innovative Approaches to Conservation
Conservation Data and Digital Asset Management
Moving Responsibilities: The Care of Performance-Based Sculpture
The Invention of Glory: A Symposium
The Plus/Minus Dilemma: The Way Forward in Environmental Guidelines

Making Purple: The Science of Art

by The National Gallery, London

Video from The National Gallery (London)

Cite this page as: The National Gallery, London, "Making Purple: The Science of Art," in Smarthistory, May 5, 2017, accessed June 2, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/making-purple-science-of-art/.

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From the Getty Conversations series

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Códice Maya de México

Códice Maya de México

a sacred book that tracked and predicted the movements of the planet Venus

The Códice Maya de México is a remarkable testament to the complexity of Maya astronomy.

watch the video
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