…thank you very much Birat Raj Bajracharyafor inviting me to the Buddhist Art Gallery in Patan, Lalitpur, Kathmandu Nepal.
Thank you all for the beautiful meeting, sharing love for and knowledge about canvases.
Special interview this month in Friends of Haptic and Hue with @helenaloermans, the woman who realised that many of the Old Masters painted onto complex hand woven linen. She has dedicated her time to deciphering the different weaves and researching the canvases. Listen to the secrets she has discovered in The Weave Beneath – The Canvases of the Old Masters.
Please click on the image to listen to the podcast…
Thank you so much Cynthia Schwarz Ian MCClure and Jim Coddington for such a brilliant open source publication.
Thank you João Mariano for the excellent capture of the textiles 
See the open source publication here https://gty.art/43vfX4V
…see the full paper with a click on the picture below :
painted two of his works on a canvas with a woven pattern, 1490
In the xray of one of the paintings we find a horizontal seam in the canvas.
Many thanks to the conservator of the Wadsworth Atheneum for sharing the high resolution xray image.
In the photograph of the other painting, found on the website of the National Gallery of Canada, we can see a horizontal seam.
Both marked with a red line.
I am very curious to know if the pattern of both canvases are the same and I hope to get access to the xray of “An Allegory of Civilization”
Another interesting detail in both paintings is the pattern of the scarfs…
… a seam in a textile fragment, probably 18th century @Museum of Fine Arts, Boston !
looking forward to analysing the pattern and stitches of the seam !
The first time I saw a seam in a patterned canvas was in
the x-ray of a Piero di Cosimo’s painting from 1495
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/115011/towel…
https://www.artrenewal.org/…/the-finding-of…/15678
….thanks to all at Factum Foundation for the inspiring visit I could make on the 23th of January.
I love the work you are doing with the reconstructions of historic canvases.
Reconstruction of the canvas of Velazquez’s Supper at Emmaus, 1620 and located in The MET New York, with a rabbit glue and champaign chalk ground layer on top.
The image of the surface of the reconstruction of the canvas of Velázquez “Supper at Emmaus” 1620, was captured using the Selene PSS at a resolution of 1000 dpi, showcasing both color and 3D details. Courtesy of Jorge Cano, Head of R&D at Factum Foundation
newsletter at https://www.factumfoundation.org
Thank you Adam Lowe, Carlos Bayod and Jorge Cano
I love this mission !
I would love to discuss this topic with both textile- and computer engineering lovers!
“Evidence Unraveled, 17th-Century Canvas Exposes”
a very interesting project in Museum Bussemakerhuis in The Netherlands! https://www.museumbussemakerhuis.nl/…/ontrafeld…/…
It is about the reconstruction of a plain weave canvas from the 17th century.
Density of warp and weft has been found by Automated Thread Counting software.
“Automatic thread counting software, developed by Professors Don H. Johnson (Rice University) and Professor C. Richard Johnson, Jr. (Cornell University) provides thread counts, referred to here as thread density, covering the entire painting. These density measurements have proven to be far more informative than spot counts, even highlighting the potential inaccuracy of manual spot counts. (source: https://www.ece.rice.edu/~dhj/TCAP/ITC.html
Automated Thread Counting analyses can create “Thread Density- and Thread Angle Maps” which lead to finding spots in the canvas where “cusping” and “weft snakes”, a subtle cusping-like feature, become visible. (between others)
My curiosity to seeing if this software would provide the information about thread count in canvases with a complex woven pattern has lead to a pilot trial with Professor Don H. Johnson at rice University.
“The current algorithm does have trouble with “fancy” weave patterns, like diamond. In most cases, the analysis of twill and herringbone is possible. A lot depends on the quality of the x-rays.
But there is hope for an improved thread counting algorithm !”
Thanks to the editors for presenting the work in such nice way!
…feeling so honoured to be invited as the keynote speaker at the upcoming forum in Vermont USA !
Thank you Rabbitt Susan Goody for your support, amazing work and love for historical textiles !
The Textile History Forum seeks papers and presentations on all aspects of textile history from the Pre-Columbian period through the twenty-first century, including textile
technology, costume, quilts, weaving, dyeing, spinning, technological innovations and textile availability. The Forum is looking to include additional aspects of material culture i.e. how textiles fit into their cultural and social places, how textiles are valued, ceremonial use of textiles and the individuals who made and used them.
The Textile History Forum encourages the submission of scholarly work from historians, anthropologists and economists as well as independent researchers, individuals working the field, crafts people and collectors. Current and unpublished research is especially encouraged. Those interested in presenting a paper at the Forum should submit a one-page proposal. In addition to formal paper presentations, those interested in presenting a “work-in-progress” are also encouraged to submit a few paragraphs about their work. The Works-in-progress sessions are short presentations and no written paper is required.
—————Join Textile Conservator, Cristina Balloffet Carr, in her discussion with Helena Loermans on the fascinating topic: research and reconstructions of historic canvases at Lab O.———————–
