Albrecht Dürer’s Material Renaissance

Balancing Access and Preservation: Microfading at Grimwade Conservation Services

As part of the preparations for the upcoming exhibition, Albrecht Dürer’s Material Renaissance, opening the Arts West Gallery on 22 July 2024, Grimwade Conservation Services (GCS) analysed two rare hand-coloured leaves from early printed books held in the University’s Prints and Drawings collection to see how quickly, and in what conditions they are likely to fade.  This analysis, called Micro Fade Testing (MFT), is an important tool for conservators, collection managers, and curators to allow sensitive material to be more safely displayed.

The Legacy of the Prints and Drawings Collection

The Prints and Drawings collection was established in 1959 through the generous gift of Dr John Orde Poynton AO CMG (1906-2001). Consisting of approximately 3,700 European ‘old master’ prints and drawings dating from 1460 to 1850, the gift formed the basis of a teaching collection for the University, illustrating episodes in European art history since the Renaissance. Included in the foundation collection is the hand-coloured woodcut Joseph taken out of the well and sold by his brethren to the Midianites, created by Michael Wolgemut in 1478-79, and printed and published by Anton Koberger in the Koberger Bible in Nuremberg in 1483.

In the years since, the collection has grown through gifts and acquisition to encompass around 12,000 objects. Notable additions include the 1985 acquisition of the double-sided hand-coloured woodcut headed Die ander figur (Illustration 2), Adoration of the angels (recto) and Die drit figur (Illustration 3), Fall of Lucifer (verso), created by Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleyhdenwurff, and published by Koberger in 1491, showing how University curators have built upon the foundation collection, in this case further illustrating the importance and impact of 15^th-century German print culture to European art and culture more broadly.

The Importance of Anton Koberger and Early Printing

Anton Koberger, Dürer’s godfather and a goldsmith turned printing impresario, played a pivotal role in making Nuremberg one of the most important centres for printing in Europe. With over twenty presses in his workshop by 1500, he became renowned for richly illustrated books, with designs for woodcuts created by prominent Nuremberg artists including the painter Michael Wolgemut, who trained Dürer. Carefully applied hand-colouring made luxury items like these books even more desirable.

The two prints noted above were de-bound from their books so that the individual sheets could be sold to collectors and exhibited as individual works of art. Thus, they are not only fragments of a larger narrative, but show us explicitly the visible traces of the prints use value as objects created to be circulated in the world.

Along with the leaves, the exhibition will also feature hand-coloured copies of both these books on loan from State Library Victoria, along with several copies of another landmark Koberger book: the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle.

Enhancing Conservation and Collection Care Practices with Microfading

As part of our standard capabilities, Grimwade Conservation Services (GCS) has a suite of analytical tools used to support preservation, research, and access to the University’s diverse collections. In 2022, we expanded these capabilities with the acquisition of a microfade tester (MFT).  While many of our analytical processes have been adapted from other industries, MFT stands apart as a technique developed specifically to test the fading of heritage items intended for display.

Developed by Dr Paul Whitmore at the Carnegie Mellon University, the technique involves exposing a small (less than 1mm) spot on the surface of the item to a high intensity beam of light while simultaneously measuring colour change using a spectrophotometer. It has several distinct advantages in comparison to other options in that it provides information specific to an individual collection item as opposed to being reliant on generic guidelines; conservators are able to simulate years of light exposure in a matter of minutes, assessing how materials like hand-coloured prints may react over time while on display; and it does not require prior identification of the materials being tested. This data then enables curators, collection managers and conservators to work together to develop preservation strategies that balance safeguarding the longevity of colour information and the item’s value, with access to the collection for students, researchers and the wider public.