Making and transforming art : technology and interpretation. Proceedings of the fifth symposium of the ICOM-CC Working Group for Art Technological Source Research, held at the Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), Brussels, 22-23 November 2012.

Synopsis: The papers in this volume, presented at the Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels in November 2012, focus on major transformations of works of art, such as updates of format, function, iconography or appearance and their documentation by historical documentary sources. They cover a wide range of art, periods, sources and approaches, from Dioscorides to contemporary installations: Tinguely's explosive Homage to New York; the evolution and transformation of harpsichords in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the art of anatomical wax models in Spain and neo-Gothic polychromies. The skilful combination of source research with experimental reconstruction and analysis is illustrated in studies of anthocyanin colorants in medieval European illuminators' workshops, and of tempera paint around 1900. Research on artists' materials such as vermilion and zinc white, refers to patents, inventories, diaries and chronicles. The interpretation and transmission of sources in central to several papers. Innovative databases of art technological sources are also presented. [Publisher's abstract]