Traditional Painting: Materials, Methods and Restoration Issues

This program provides students with an overview of the materials and methods used traditionally by painters in Italy. It involves three courses:

1. A lecture course examining the materials and techniques used in Italian painting during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, including how and why materials weather and age over time and what different approaches there are to their conservation and restoration.
2. A workshop in which students create a series of paintings using traditional materials and methods as prescribed by Cennino Cennini in The Craftsman’s Handbook, written in 1398. The focus of this course is on materials and techniques, it is not an “art” class. Students work with the following techniques: renaissance fresco, sgraffito, tempera painting on wood boards, gilding, and oil painting on canvas.
3. A lecture/discussion course on restoration theory, ethics and issues.

Note: The traditional painting workshop, unlike other workshops in our program, does not involve any formal material restoration work, nevertheless all the knowledge and experience learned in this workshop is fundamental for anyone planning to become a paintings restorer.

Course leader

Nikos Vakalis Contact information: pwithers@iirpsemail.org (718) 768-3508

Target group

This program is aimed at people studying art restoration and conservation, art history, painting, anthropology and museum studies.

Course aim

This program aims to provide important background knowledge and skills in the field of traditional painting techniques and materials both in a theoretical and practical manner.