Technical Art History and the First Conference on the Scientific Analysis of Works of Art (Rome, 1930)

Abstract

AbstractTechnical studies made their disciplinary entrance in art history in the first half of the twentieth century. This development happened at different speeds in different Western countries. Whereas the situation in the United States is well known, the European context has received less attention. The first International Conference for the Study of Scientific Methods in the Examination and Conservation of Artworks, held in Rome in October 1930, was a crucial turning point for the establishment of technical art history. The French scholar Henri Focillon played a significant role by supporting technical studies within the International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation. One of the few Italian scholars interested in the emerging methods of technical art history was Lionello Venturi, who had, during his exile in the United States, encountered the laboratory criticism of Alan Burroughs, responsible for x-ray examination at the Fogg Art Museum. Another scholar who promoted the new approach was Fernand...