Jenny Williamson

Short bio BA(Hons) ACR FIIC Paintings conservator, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Conservation Officer, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth Independent consultant Jenny Williamson studied Natural Sciences and History of Art at Cambridge University and trained as a painting conservator at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She interned at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery, London and worked at the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta. She lectured at Aberystwyth University for ten years and was a trustee and Vice-Chair on the Board of Trustees at Icon.

 

Abstract
Indigo: Collections, Conservation, Chemistry
Specialists from Swansea University and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea worked together to establish key facts about an early eighteenth-century oil painting. Scientific analysis of the pigments in the oil painting led to its re-attribution, a grant-funded exhibition, and new outreach and engagement.

There was little known about the painting, accessioned as Queen Anne as Princess by Sir Peter Lely, and there were questions over whether the painter and sitter had been correctly identified. The investigation began with the cleaning and restoration of the painting, which uncovered the original vibrant colours. The cleaning provided an opportunity to take paint samples for analysis, hoping that identification of the pigments would help establish the artist and sitter. Swansea University scientists carried out a precise analysis of the paint samples using powerful equipment and identified the blue pigment as Indigo. With this new information and images of the newly cleaned painting, the art historians pieced the story together.

The team showcased this partnership between science and art by telling the story of the work in a film, an exhibition and outreach material. This included information about the conservation treatment, the scientific analysis, the art historical research, the history and chemistry of blue pigments, the science of seeing colour, and the human story behind the Indigo trade.  The project was funded and supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry, Zeiss, specific, Beacon, UKRI, molymod, Tata steel, AIM and Miramodus.