1103
which often collaborated with the developing academic
discipline of history of art, appropriating and developing
a scientifi c foundation for its practise.
Among the fi rst to work in this fi eld was Humphry
Davy who around the same time conducted studies on
substances sensible to light and inquired into pigments
and papyri excavated in Pompeji, publishing his fi ndings
on the latter in 1819. The fi rst laboratory for the scientifi c
investigation and treatment of museum collections was
founded in 1888 in the Royal Museum in Berlin, run by
Friedrich Rathgen until 1927. Photography, now as then,
is being used in restoration mainly for two purposes: on
the hand it is used for documenting the inventory, and
on the other it is applied to the study of works of art by
scientifi c means and methods.
Arago was already aware of the importance photog-
raphy could have for the examination of works of art
when, in his speech in the Chamber of Deputies on July
6 1839, he drew the attention of the audience to the fact
“that if photography had been known in 1798, we should
now have correct images of a somewhat considerable
number of emblematical pictures, of which the cupidity
of the Arabs, or the fatal mania of certain travellers for
destruction has for ever deprived the scientifi c world.”
Even though for the moment, scientifi c documentation
receded into the background, initial evidence of it can
be found in the volume Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie
published by Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard in 1852:
The work was primarily a commercial enterprise, but
the photographs by Maxime Du Camp, illustrating the
subject as prints on paper was pathbreaking for the fur-
ther development of the architectural photography. Du
Camp, for instance, had fellow travellers pose in front
of the buildings in order to visualize the architectural
dimensions. A year earlier, the French Commission
des Monuments Historiques appointed photographers
such as Edouard Baldus, Hippolyte Bayard und Henri
Le Seq to document architectural ensembles in French
cities before they were pulled down in the course of
modernization. As a consequence of the ‘Mission He-
liographique,’ photographers during the next years were
more and more involved in similar enterprises: in 1855,
the architect Jean Baptiste Lassous appoints Charles
Nègre to document the restoration of the cathedral in
Chartres, and Désiré Charnay is sent to Mexico in 1857
to photograph the ruins of the ancient indian cultures.
At about the same time, similar initiatives were begun
in several German cities: In Cologne, the building au-
thorities ordered pictures to be taken of buildings due
for demolition, and in Hamburg, Georg Koppmann
was paid to document buildings of historical signifi -
cance. In other places, such initiatives were triggered
by private commercial or antiquarian interest: While
Eugene Atget’s photographs of the vanishing Paris, for
a long time remained in obscurity, Fratelli Alinari in
Florence produced and sold photographs with urban
motifs. However, of more commercial interest and as
well signifi cant for restoration, were the reproductions
of sculptures, paintings and graphic arts marketed by
Alinari. Similar enterprises were undertaken by Adolphe
Braun (Paris/Dornach), Josef Albert and Franz Hanfs-
taengl (Munich).
These fi rms systematically reproduced private and
museum collections; the catalogue of the company of
Adolphe Braun in 1887 offered tens of thousands of dif-
ferent works of art. With these commercial campaigns,
a vast number of works were reproduced for the fi rst
time and thus were available for the stylistic compari-
sons necessary for tests of authenticity, the separation
of ‘hands’ and for the purpose of establishing dates.
Occasionally however, the commercial photographers
caused work for the restorers than aiding them: Well into
the 20th century, reproductive photographers exchanged
recipies about how to treat paintings in order to obtain
stronger contrasts and brighter colours. In particular,
cooking oil and mixtures of albumen, sugar and glyc-
erine enjoyed great popularity. To avoid such incidents
and, moreover, to participate in the profi table business
of reproducing works of art, some museums appointedPHOTOGRAPHY IN ART CONSERVATION
Gérard, Léon. Leonardo da Vinci, Drawing Christ in “The Last
Supper.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection,
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew W. Saul Gift, 2005
(2005.100.51) Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.