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The Getty Conservation Institute's Collections Research Laboratory (CRL), a part of the Institute's Science group, works to address conservation questions in the field at large. The primary focus of the CRL's work is scientific research relating to objects in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum and other museums with which the Museum is collaborating. Working with the Museum's conservation and curatorial staff, the staff of the CRL investigate questions of authenticity, attribution, and artists' techniques; assist in the development and evaluation of conservation treatment programs; and contribute to the understanding of the physical properties and behavior of the materials comprising works of art.

Like all of the GCI's research, the results of the CRL's work are disseminated to professional conservation and museum communities through internal reports, presentations at conferences and colloquia, publication in professional peer-reviewed journals, and at technical workshops organized by members of the CRL. In addition, the work of the CRL is communicated to a broader, general audience through museum exhibitions and catalogs, and public lectures.

The CRL has laboratory space at both the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. As part of GCI Science, the CRL contributes to, and benefits from, the wide array of analytical instrumentation and expertise that is shared among the various GCI Science laboratories and scientists.

The CRL staff focus on a broad range of conservation questions relating to the Getty's collections but also work with staff throughout the Getty to answer important scholarly questions about works of art in the collections. The sections below provide examples of some of the work that has been conducted, or is currently being conducted, within the CRL.

For more information see the GCI newsletter's collections research issue (Vol. 25, no. 1).

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Last updated: June 2010