When I joined the National Gallery of Art in August 2021 as chief curatorial and conservation officer, I was thrilled to work with our talented conservation division. Comprising six conservation departments, a scientific research department, and an administrative office, the division works tirelessly to study, care for, and preserve our renowned collections. Our staff play a vital role in mentoring the next generation of conservators and scientists. They also, as this publication makes evident, conduct technical research, often in collaboration with National Gallery curatorial colleagues, that sheds light on the materiality and processes of art making. Their work makes palpable the intangible aspects of cultural heritage.

This seventh volume of Facture explores change, an especially apropos framework since the journal is itself changing from a print to a digital publication. Going digital and publishing on the National Gallery’s redesigned website means that the research and perspectives published here will now be more accessible. As is evident in the articles contained herein, this new format enhances the visual experience, allowing readers to overlay or zoom in on images alongside the original research they illustrate. In the coming years, as we lean into the vast possibilities of this digital platform, we will showcase a greater range of conservation research. We are excited about what this change means for Facture readers.

Conservation inherently acknowledges that change is an inevitable part of cultural heritage. But how do we respond to it, and what can we learn from it? This issue includes six essays that evaluate changefrom different perspectives. Two consider the histories of specific works and the vicissitudes of time. The first, a technical study of the Chalice of the Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, provides fundamental insights into the present condition of this medieval treasure and offers a new understanding of how changes to its sardonyx cup, gems, and metalwork reflect the vessel’s long history of transformation. The second considers stages of production of an early seventeenth-century drawing of Giovanni Grosso, a famed tour guide. The authors analyze material evidence preserved on the National Gallery drawing that reveals the kind of changes an image might undergo from the design to the fabrication of a print matrix, to the dissemination of the printed image and subsequent copying. Visual, technical and historical analyses elucidate the social and artistic context that surrounded the drawing’s production and impact.

Technological advances in image capture and their impact on conservation documentation and treatment methods are considered in two essays. In the first, image specialists provide an updated analysis of data collected using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) and photogrammetry. They describe the benefits and disadvantages of both with respect to accessibility and data use. Gathering the surface topography of Rembrandt van Rijn’s Man with a Sheet of Music prior to and at the beginning stages of conservation treatment, the authors compare the relative ease and lower cost of RTI data capture to the more labor-intensive and costly, but precise, photogrammetry results. This study is also referenced in an essay on the conservation history of Man with a Sheet of Music. Here the author chronicles a series of structural interventions designed to support the wood panel and prevent it from warping prior to the painting’s arrival at the National Gallery. Each is progressively more complicated, from adhering linen to the reverse and thinning the panel from the back, to attaching and then removing Masonite board, only to replace it with balsa wood blocks. As the painting and its wooden support once again undergo conservation treatment, the superficial changes will be meticulously documented using RTI and photogrammetry. This essay shows how conservation treatments themselves change over time as continued research reveals different and more flexible methods to stabilize works of art. 

An essay on photographer James Van Der Zee explores how the artist intentionally tailored his processes to each of his clients. The authors argue that Van Der Zee was mindful that the changes in his backdrops, props, and poses yielded a heterogeneous body of work. Technical examination of his prints further shows that he intentionally selected and manipulated photographic materials. This confirms a particular sensitivity to producing highly individualized portraits and a keen awareness of how the photographic materials at hand could be selected and changed to suit his clientele. Van Der Zee understood the social, cultural, and intangible power of his photographs, and he altered his prints and negatives to achieve his desired effects. 

The final essay acknowledges that change is inevitable and usually irreversible. With examples drawn from many works of art, the author showcases paint analysis and color change identified over the course of a long and distinguished career. She shows how understanding the mechanisms of change can help prevent or minimize its impact in an essay that may well become required reading for future conservation students.

As volume 7 and its essays grapple with change, it continues the series’ important dialogue across disciplines, opening the way toward improved methods, historical awareness, and new insights.