2016 Workshop
November 8–11, 2016
Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg and Bonnefantenmuseum
Maastricht, the Netherlands
The Getty Conservation Institute and the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH), together with the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL), presented this third jointly-organized XRF Boot Camp at SRAL and the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Netherlands. During the workshop, 18 participants representing 10 countries gained in-depth training in the principles of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and practical instruction on the collection and interpretation of data, focusing primarily on qualitative analysis and the use of handheld instrumentation. Interactive lectures were paired with laboratory activities involving hands-on instrument use, data processing and interpretation. In addition, for this year’s workshop, instrument representatives from Bruker, Niton, and XGLab were at hand to assist participants with questions specific to the different models of portable XRF units used.
The application of XRF to the study of core material groups in cultural heritage collections was emphasized throughout the workshop and illustrated with examples from ongoing projects at SRAL and the collections of the Bonnefantenmuseum.
The analysis of painted surfaces, focusing on the common challenges faced by conservators of paintings, objects and works on paper when dealing with multilayer coatings on a variety of substrates were highlighted. In addition, recent advances in XRF instrumentation and techniques applied to the study of cultural heritage, including scanning macro-XRF, were discussed.
On the last day, the participants, who had worked in pairs from the beginning of the workshop, presented the results of their analysis through short presentations followed by a group discussion with all the instructors.
Instructors
Maggi Loubser, GeoMag GeoChem, South Africa
Alexander Seyfarth, Rock River AXS, LLC, USA
Roald Tagle, Senior Application Scientist, Bruker Nano Analytics, Berlin, Germany
Anikó Bezur, Director of Scientific Research, Technical Studies Laboratory, Yale IPCH
Karen Trentelman, Senior Scientist, Science Department, GCI
Lynn Lee, Assistant Scientist, Science Department, GCI
XRF Boot Camp for Conservators is part of the Research into Practice Initiative.
Page updated: December 2016