Technical Art History at the Kelvin Centre
Technical art history is an innovative research strand within history of art, combining expertise from art historians, conservators and scientists, but also reaching out to other disciplines including philosophy, economic and social history. The focus is on the act of making and everything that encompasses: materials, techniques, intentions, context and concept.
Our postgraduate programme draws upon the expertise of our interdisciplinary team to combine taught and research components with practical insights into the field and work placements.
Work Placements
Students on our programme undertake a work placement in the UK or overseas. In addition to interacting with professional practitioners and gaining experience with objects belonging to museums, these placements offer exposure to the wide range of roles within a museum service.
Current Work Placements
- Cataloguing the Studio Materials of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, 2024
- Landscape Painting by John Knox in the Trossachs - The Hunterian, 2024
- Identifying Materials Used by Alasdair Gray - The Alasdair Gray Archive, 2024
- Identifying Pigments in 18th- and 19th-Century Indian Botanical Drawings - Kelvin Centre, 2024
- Macro X-ray Fluorescence Scanning of a German Landscape - National Museums Scotland, 2024
- John Singleton Copley Process for History Painting - The Hunterian, 2024
Previous Work Placements
- Analysis of Michael Armitage's Nasema Nawe - National Galleries Scotland, 2022
- Database of Artist Materials used by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, 2022
- Joan Eardley: Provenance, Display and Varnishes - The Hunterian, 2022
- Pigment Identification using XRF - National Galleries Scotland, 2022
- Raman Standards for Pigments - University of Glasgow, 2022
- The Thomson Album - National Trust for Scotland, 2022
- Anchor Line Advertising - University Archives and Special Collections, 2021
- Conserving Time-Based Media - National Galleries Scotland, 2021
- Daniel Cottier's Stained Glass - National Trust for Scotland, 2021
- Microscopy Analysis of Nasmyth Paintings - The Hunterian, 2021
- Provenance Research into The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots - The Hunterian, 2021
- Technical Analysis of John Knox's Regatta - The Hunterian, 2021
- XRF Analysis of Artwork - The Hunterian, 2021
- Lauder Paintings - National Galleries Scotland, 2020