✍️ The newsletter: Feedback for Conservators #10
A FREE digital tool for art conservators: Peter Mactaggart’s pigment ID using Polarised Light Microscopy resource
This newsletter project comes from the mentorship service Feedback for Conservators: a place to bring a little bit of professional feedback to help on subjects that I wish I knew more about, especially (but not only) at the start of my art conservator career. Topics discussed here are recurrent ones that I see over Zoom sessions! so I thought would be useful to address them in a short and more informal format. In between, shorter posts with a digital free tool will be discussed. New publications will be out twice a month, for a year.
And just as a reminder: this is not a perfect newsletter and doesn’t intend to, but rather a space to offer some help. Read here past newsletters. And as aaaalways, some disclamers1
This is the 5th edition of this newsletter’s section dedicated to showcasing “free digital tools discoveries” for art conservators. In the past, we have talked about Concepts, Figma, CRBMC Manuals and iArtBook. Today: Peter Mactaggart’s pigment ID using Polarised Light Microscopy resource from IAP.
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😎 Mactaggart’s resource in a nutshell
Today I bring to your attention a different and very cool tool that exists. It is not an app but rather an online free resource, kindly made available by IAP and prepared by Peter and Ann Mactaggart.
Some context: Peter Mactaggart was a UK conservator that taught the course Identification of Pigments using Polarised Light Microscopy at IAP for more than 15 years, with great success. He published several books, also with Ann Mactaggart, such as Practical Gilding by Archetype Publications Ltd.
Upon his death in 2020, IAP adapted and made available for free this resource based on his famous course as a homage to Peter2.
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Why It is cool for art conservators
I like that is quite straightforward. Here are some details of what you can find:
Pigments are classified by colour groups: blue, black, green, etc. Once you click one of the groups, you can access the description of certain pigments within that colour group. Each pigment includes a brief history, maybe an image under polarised light microscopy (e.g. Fig. 1 and 2), and the best: clear information of what you can expect to find under PLM and what can work or not (which is so handy).
Fig. 2. Turner’s yellow in plane polarised light. Note the cleavage planes.
and what appear to be striations // © Mactaggart, P. & Mactaggart, A. (June 2007) ‘Yellow Pigments’ In: Pigment ID using Polarised Light Microscopy from: https://academicprojects.co.uk/yellow-pigments/
Fig. 3. Spherical malachite in plane polarised light. // © Mactaggart, P. & Mactaggart, A. (June 2007) ‘Green Pigments’ In: Pigment ID using Polarised Light Microscopy from: https://academicprojects.co.uk/green-pigments/
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A section on optics and how it works is a good reminder.
Menu of techniques: this is so great. The clear and detailed info that helps you to go through the process. There is a small section with common questions, that are helpful.
An English glossary can also be found as well as an extended bibliography.
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Some thoughts
Please be aware that the website indicates that the last update was in 2007 (I am thinking especially for the Bibliography section).
More photos would be welcome. Perhaps it would be great to allow other colleagues to add images of their own to enrich this resource.
I believe that also would be great to add the glossary in other languages, right?
My advice is always the same: dedicate 1 hour to explore then just stick to what you need. Most times we only need to focus on 3-4 things to make it work for you or maybe be aware that exist for a future consultation. You must use it if is saving you time on something, not making you lose it.
Enjoy!
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P.S. If you have used it, you can always add your comments below. It is always interesting to hear other colleagues’ opinions about it: for example, check the comments of other art conservators given in this post.
Also, guest posts are welcome! Check this one for example.
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That’s a warp for today. More in two weeks, see you then?
This is my opinion, which also means I could be wrong! You do you✨. Also, let’s be cool and not share extracts without my consent.
This is NOT a sponsored post, just my personal opinion of this cool resource 😙.
Mactaggart, P. & Mactaggart, A. (June 2007) In: Pigment ID using Polarised Light Microscopy from: https://academicprojects.co.uk/pigment-id-by-mactaggart/
Many thanks to IAP to allow us to use several images.
Thank you for taking the time to post this helpful information!