Painting Pairs: Art History and Technical Study is a research opportunity for graduate students enrolled in the MA in the History of Art, MA in Curating the Art Museum and the PhD programme. It is supported by the Research Forum, the Courtauld Gallery and the Department of Conservation. Selected Masters students in Art History or Curating are given the opportunity to form a research partnership with future conservators in the second year of their Masters in the Conservation of Easel Paintings.
Each pairing explores the contribution technical study can make to art historical scholarship (and vice versa) through research on a painting undergoing analysis or treatment in the Department of Conservation. The paintings are drawn from private and public collections, including the Courtauld Gallery.
The program is now in its 13th year – this year we have five pairs of graduate students. In this session, the pairs will introduce their paintings and the research questions they will be investigating in the months ahead culminating in a final presentation in May.
Organised by Professor Aviva Burnstock, Pippa Balch (Senior Lecturer in the Conservation of Easel Paintings), and Dr Karen Serres (Senior Curator of Paintings), The Courtauld.
2024 – 25 Participants:
Nitzan Eliyahu and Lara Dunn, Portrait of Hannah Freeman, Braintree Museum
K Mishler and Naila Ben Said, 19th French Clock painting, Private Collection
Ursula Griffiths and Benjamin Singer, Portrait of Naroji by Sorab Pithawalla, Private Collection, Formerly India Club
Madeleine Byfield and Ana-Sofia Petrovic, Allegory of May and June, Private Collection
Catherine Doherty and Ana Mia Diamandi, Pair of Omega Workshop doors, Private Collection on loan to the Courtauld Gallery
