Benzyl Alcohol Derivatives
Fundamental research in the cleaning of oil paintings
This research aims to determine if benzyl alcohol derivatives – chemical compounds on a core structure of benzyl alcohol with additional modifications – can make cleaning methods for Old Master Paintings more selective and effective.
About the project
Many historical conservation treatments of oil paintings involved applying oil-based retouches or oil-containing varnishes. These oil-containing interventions often pose significant challenges in cleaning as they are chemically similar to the original oil paint layers. Thus, cleaning materials capable of solubilizing the conservation intervention can also solubilize the original paint. This project aims to study the effects of chemically modifying benzyl alcohols, a class of materials already known to be effective at swelling oils, to create a more chemically tailored cleaning reagent. The hope is that subtle chemical changes will make cleaning materials more selective at solubilizing only the layers targeted for removal.
Aim of the project
This projects aims to develop a deeper fundamental understanding of how sensitive oil-based layers are to small changes in the chemical structure of the active agent used in cleaning formulations. Ideally, the results of this research will lead to an improved understanding of how to best approach cleaning.
Staff
Chun (Tracy) Liu
2020-2021 Migelien Gerritzen Fellow in Conservation Science
c.liu@rijksmuseum.nl
Katrien Keune
Head of Science
k.keune@rijksmuseum.nl
Partners and sponsors
This Fellowship is made possible by the Migelien Gerritzen Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund, and is part of the Rijksmuseum Fellowship Programme.