1104
their own photographers: Already in 1855, the Louvre
had pictures of its collection of antique sculptures taken
by an internal photographer, and the prints were used
not only for reference in the deeds, but sold to scientists
and the interested public. In London the newly founded
South Kensington Museum assumed the function of
reproducing exhibits for the British Museum and the
National Gallery since 1859; the Reproduction Room
committed to selling the prints, but closed four years
later because the museum’s atelier was not able to cope
with the demand.
At around the same time, photography was fi rst used
to document the work of restoration of artworks: The
Munich chemist Max von Pettenkofer had developed
a process for regenerating torn varnish, instead of the
common practice of removing it from the paintings.
To demonstrate the advantages of his process, he had a
painting by Domenico Quaglio photographed by Josef
Albers, fi rst in 1859 and then again in 1864. The pho-
tographs showed a signifi cant increase of fi ssures and
dull spots in the varnish vanishing after the regeneration.
Pettenkofer recommended exhibiting such photographs
together with the paintings, a suggestion that had rarely
been taken into consideration until recently. This kind
of photography borders on its application as an analytic
tool for restoration.
In the 1890s, Arthus Pillans Laurie used a stereo
microscope to investigate the surface of paintings in
order to fi nd out which pigments were used by the old
masters and to detect forgeries by analyzing the brush
strokes; however he published most of the results only
after the turn of the century. As well, Theodor von Frim-
mel used microscopes and photographs to understand
the regularities of the formation of crackles in the paint;
he published one of his photographsin his Handbuch der
Gemäldekunde (1894). Raking light was systematically
used for the investigation of paintings since the 1890s:
with its help, traces of pentimenti and earlier versions
could be detected. In the course of restoration of two
portraits by Christoph Amberger in Braunschweig in
1892/93, subsequent alterations were discovered, chang-
ing the donors into saints; the fi ndings were confi rmed
by later radioscopies. X-ray examinations of works of art
were executed within months after Röntgen published
his discovery in January 1896, indicating that lead paint
absorbs the radiation.
Already in March 1896 the Frankfurt physicist Wal-
ter König had investigated paintings using X-rays. In
the following years, a number of smaller publications
referred to the new method of examination, which
proved to be particularly useful for the verifi cation of
works of art. Around 1913, the Weimar roentgenologist
Alexander Faber systematically researched the absorp-
tions of different pigments used for paintings, and even
though the general procedure was known at that time,
in 1914 he was issued a patent for a ‘Procedure for
the determination of overpaintings in oil paintings and
similar objects.’
Other photographic methods for the investigation
of works of art in use today were not applicable yet in
the 19th century. Since Hermann Wilhelm Vogel had
developed the appropriate emulsions in 1873, infra-red
photography was technically possible; for paintings,
however, it has only been in use since the 1930s. On
the other hand, while the sensitivity of photographic
emulsions to ultra-violet rays has been known since the
beginnings of photography; it became of practical value
only after the invention of the mercury vapour lamp
by Küch in 1906. Its fi rst application for purposes of
restoration was by P.R. Kögel who, with the help of this
method, could decipher illegible palimpsests.
A curiosity in this context is the heliography of a
painting by Vernet now preserved in the Harrach col-
lection in Rohrau/Lower Austria: The canvas of the
painting was penetrated by a bomb splinter during the
revolutionary fi ghts in Vienna in 1848. The hole, how-
ever, was not mended: instead, a small piece of cardbord
with a note about the damage was mounted to the back
of the painting, such that it was readable through the
hole. In this state the painting was reproduced. The hole
was mended only in the course of another restoration
executed in 1961.
Friedrich Tietjen
See also: Davy, Sir Humphry; Blanquart-Evrard,
Louis-Désiré; Du Camp, Maxime; Baldus, Édouard;
Bayard, Hippolyte; Mission Héliographique; Nègre,
Charles; Alinari, Fratelli; Braun, Adolphe; South
Kensington Museums; X-Ray Photography; and
Vogel, Hermann Wilhelm.Further Reading
Althoefer, Heinz (ed.), Das 19. Jahrhundert und die Restaurier-
ung, München: Callwey, 1987.
Bridgman, Charles F., “The Amazing Patent on the Radiography
of Paintings.” Studies in Conservation 9 (1964): 135–139.
Gemälde im Licht der Naturwissenschaft, Herzog Anton Ulrich
Museum, Braunschweig, 1978, exhibition catalogue.
Nicolaus, Knut (ed.), Heinrich L. Nickel: Fotografi e im Dienste
der Kunst, Halle: Fotokino Verlag, 1959.PHOTOGRAPHY OF PAINTINGS
The graphic reproduction of works of art has an extended
and diverse history and photography followed the tradi-
tion in which the depiction of the fi ne and decorative
arts bestows some kudos on the reprographic processes
being used. Photography was invented at a time when
a large and vibrant market in the reproduction of paint-
ings was rapidly evolving. This market encompassed
a wide range of sectors from highly expensive de luxe