Hamilton Kerr Institute

Academic Staff

 

Education

Renate studied at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, the Swiss Institute of Art Research, Zurich and the Institute of Painting Technology, Stuttgart. This was followed by a period of free-lance employment at the Swiss Institute to finance studies leading to a Lic. Phil. in Art History from Zurich University.

Employment

After two years as Technical Historian at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, 1978 – 1981, and two years as head of the Department of Conservation of Paintings and Sculptures at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, 1981 – 1983, from 1984 onwards employment at the Hamilton Kerr Institute as teacher of paintings conservation and conservator of paintings, with the title Assistant to the Director.

Research

The history of painting techniques and materials and the history of plant lakes in painting. PhD at Zurich University in 2000 on a 16^th century recipe book on colours and dyes from the Monastery of Engelberg in Switzerland. Main interest: reconstruction of recipes for the preparation of pigments, lakes, oil media and varnishes. Experiments concerning the handling properties of historic pigments and media and the reconstruction of historic painting methods.

Lectures and practical instruction

Courses in historic painting techniques at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, at the Limburg Conservation Institute in Maastricht, at Oslo University, Amsterdam University and in Helsinki. Lectures at various conferences.

Select Publications

• R Woudhuysen Reconstruction of tempera painting techniques: some examples, including gesso sottile, Art Technology; Sources and Methods, Proceedings of the 2nd symposium of the Art Technological Source Research study , ed. S. Kroustallis, J.H. Townsend et al., Archetype Publications, London 2008: pp. 166-73
• R Woudhuysen, The Battle of Pavia, ed. Timothy Wilson, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 2003
• R Woudhuysen Review of; Michael Graf von der Goltz, “Kunsterhaltung Machtkonflikte; Gemalde-Restaurierung ur Zeit der Weimarer Republik”: Berlin, Reimer, 2002, Studies in Conservation, IIC, London 2002
• K Schoeller-von Haslingen, M Schoeller, R Woudhuysen, Die Rosenallee; der Weg Spätwerk Monets in Giverny: Aachen, Mainz Verlag 2001
• P Woudhuysen, R Woudhuysen Das Kunstbuchlein “Artliche kunste” aus dem Jahre 1531; eine Abschrift des deutschen Originals mit Erlauterungen, in, F. Zelger, Unser Kopf ist rund, dam it das Denken die Richtung wechseln kann: Festschrift für Franz Zelger, Hrsg. Von M. Wohigemut., Zürich, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung 2001: pp. 529-553
• P Woudhuysen, R Woudhuysen La serie II sentiero di Roseti di Claude Monet, Treviso, Casa dei Carraresi, Monet; I luoghi della pittura, a cura di M. Goldin: (exhibition 2001-2), Conegliano, Linea d’ombra 2001: pp. 299-314
• R Woudhuysen Review of S. Hackney [et al], “Paint and purpose, a study of techniques in British Art”, Restauro, iv 2001: pp. 265-266
• R Woudhuysen Review of T. Brachert, “Lexikon historischer Maltechniken; Quellen — Handwerk — Technologie — Aichemie”, Restauro, iv 2001: pp. 296-298
• R Woudhuysen, I McClure and S Thirkettle The examination and restoration of 'Henry Prince of Wales on Horseback' by Robert Peake, Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin, number 1, ed. I McClure, Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge 1988: pp. 15-22