Tor Erik Skaaland

The aim of the PhD project is to investigate the material properties of canvas paintings which have previously been conserved and impregnated with melted blends of wax and resins. A special focus will be on finding out how the paintings and wax-resin adhesive perform under various indoor climate conditions and increased temperatures. This is important since little is known about the long-term effects of temperature fluctuations for wax-resin impregnated canvas paintings and is especially relevant for museum collections management in historic buildings.

At the heart of the project is the collection of paintings in Anchers Hus in Skagen, where the old conservation treatment is believed to cause some damage to the paintings, like canvas deformations, potentially because of the material’s temperature sensitivity. The instable paintings create challenges and dilemmas for collection management and the presentation of the paintings in the house, but to control the indoor environment conditions in a historic house is complicated due to its status as a listed building and a place of cultural- and art historical significance. Therefor an understanding of the painting’s behaviour in ambient indoor climate conditions is vital to enable discussions of sustainable solutions which can be implemented to minimize further damage to the paintings and their exhibition context in Anchers Hus.

The project’s methods are an interdisciplinary combination of approaches to study the collection of paintings in Anchers Hus by means of visual observation and condition surveys, historical documentation and climate data together with thermal and mechanical analysis and tests of wax-resin materials.

The project is an industrial PhD in collaboration with Skagens Museum and funded by grants from Augustinus Fonden and Aage and Johannne Louis-Hansens Fond. The PhD project is supervised by associate professor, PhD Cecil Krarup Andersen, Institute for Conservation and co-supervised by Head of research, PhD Anna Marie Fisker, Skagens Museum.