The J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles and the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Arts and Science (NICAS)—under the guidance of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum—have signed an agreement to jointly develop new technologies to advance art historical research and conservation.
In a statement, James Cuno, the president and chief executive of the Getty Trust, described the partnership as an “ambitious vision”, but an “appropriately aspirational one”. He added: “Together we can lead the way in developing new technologies for gathering, processing and visualising the vast amounts of data that is transforming our fields.”
A spokeswoman for the project says there are no concrete plans at present, but the partners are due to work on the latest imaging, machine learning and interactive visualisation technologies. They are also expected to provide training for art historians and conservators and give input to university courses.
The collaboration between the Getty and NICAS will draw on the innovative technologies used to build the Bosch Research and Conservation Project website. Supported by the Getty Foundation, the website allows art historians, conservators and the public to compare detailed images of nearly 40 Bosch paintings housed in 26 museums across Europe and the US.
“We want to continue moving the field forward. By identifying where we want to be in the future, we can design a course of research and development to get there,” Cuno says. “This joint effort helps us chart that course.”