When art historian Louisa Matthew finished the only economics class she ever took in college, she thought she was done with things like supply and demand. “If you had told me I'd be studying economics after that,” she said, “I would have fainted.”
But Matthew finds herself immersed in the business of art for her research on paints used by Venetian Renaissance artists.
Her research is chronicled in a recent issue of Science News.
Renaissance paintings from 15th- and 16th-century Venice have long been known for their vivid and glowing colors. But what makes them so?
Matthew had been trying to answer that question in the dusty state archives of Venice, where she pores over nearly-illegible documents handwritten in archaic Italian. One piece of paper, a store inventory from 1534, confirmed her long-held suspicion that the color vendors of the day sold painting supplies to a wide variety of craftspeople who used colorants and related supplies -not just to easel painters but to anonymous painters of furniture, masks, textiles and even the inside and outside walls of houses.
The discovered document spurred Matthew's colleague Barbara Berrie, a conservation scientist at the National Gallery in Washington, to take another look at some paint samples from works by Venetian artists. She discovered glass particles mixed with the paint, which seem to have been used for a variety of purposes: as paint extender, dryer and perhaps to add luster to paint colors.
“I hypothesized from the beginning that shops were patronized by all sorts of craftspeople-glassmakers, dyers, masons and gondola painters,” Matthew said. “Now we can talk about Venice as a nexus for sharing ideas and teaching across professions.”
Teaching across professions is nothing new to Matthew. She has long called on colleagues from across campus to help in her work. “I understand how exciting these connections are,” she said. “That's what's great about teaching here.”
Matthew has team taught a course-and hike-on the Camino de Santiago, a 1,000-year-old pilgrimage route in Spain, with Prof. Victoria Martinez of modern languages; and a course on Renaissance Florence with Prof. Steve Sargent of history. She is planning a new GenEd course on the science of art conservation with colleagues in the chemistry department.
The Science News article on Matthew's research is online here.
Students take honors at ASME meeting, again
The College's mechanical engineers continued their winning ways at the regional student conference of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at the University of Maryland.
Bob Dunton '05, also majoring in computer science, took first in the design competition of a bulk transporter. He will represent Union at the national ASME conference competition in November. He was advised by Prof. Bill Keat. Dunton also took second in the poster competition for “A Computational Study of Axisymmetric Droplet Breakup in Time Varying Flows Using Parallel Processing” (Profs. Brad Bruno and David Hemmendinger).
Shira Mandel '05, who also majors in chemistry, placed first in the poster competition for her poster on “Aerogels: Effects of Chemical Precursors on Physical Properties.” (Profs. Ann Anderson and Mary Carroll).
Dan Archibald '05 won best technical presentation in the oral competition for “The Aerodynamics of a Modern Sports Car.” (Prof. Anderson)
Nathan Stodola '05 placed fourth in the oral competition with “An Organ of Fire and Ice.” (Prof. Bruno)
David Korim '06 won a student award for “outstanding efforts and accomplishments on behalf of the ASME student section at Union College.”
These students continue the trend of Union successes at ASME. Each of the previous three years, a Union student has won for best oral presentation.
The ASME Region III Student Conference included 44 schools from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
For more, click here.