Research methods/methodology
HISTORIC AND ARTISTIC STUDIES:
Traditional studies in the field of art history and art expertise shall include comparative stylistic analyses and iconographic studies.
ARCHIVAL STUDIES:
Archival queries and source studies shall include issues related to foundation, workshop, function, transformations and historic iconography of monuments of architecture and their movable furnishing. Studies both in national institutions: in Gdańsk (Technical University Archives, National Academy of Sciences Library), Krakow (Dominican and Bernardine convent archives, the Czartoryski Library, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Jagiellonian University Library), Warsaw (Central Archive for Historical Records, Archives of Modern Records, Institute of Art History National Academy of Sciences, etc.), Pelplin (ADP) and other archives (Olsztyn, Włocławek, Wrocław, Poznań, etc.); and abroad: in Berlin (Geheimes Archiv des Preussischen Kulturbesitz Berlin-Dahlem, Staatsbibliothek Berlin etc.)and in Marburg (Herder Institut) are intended.
ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY:
Structural examination of all preserved monuments of architecture shall be preceded with comprehensive measured survey with a complete set of architectural drawings (with the use of 3D laser-scanning, visualisation an 3D modelling). Examination of architectural fabrics and structures with the use of non-invasive techniques (ground-penetrating radar, thermovision, etc.) and invasive ones (dendrochronology, petrography, thermoluminescence) shall be performed as well as stratification in aspects of building chronology and historic additions.
TECHNOLGY STUDIES:
Technology studies shall be based on analysis of material structure of artworks with the use of modern non-invasive techniques such as analysis in visible light, in UV and IR, portable XRF.
In particular cases, selected by the research team, instrumental methods shall be employed for identification of materials in collected samples (among others micro-chemical analysis, microscopic analysis in VIS and UV light, emission spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXMA) combined with electron microscopy, analysis with the use of electron scanning microscope [SEM-EDS examination], gas chromatography [GC]). In selected cases conducting dendrochronological and petrographic analyses are planned. The research results shall be documented with professional digital photographs in visible light and in ultraviolet and infrared range of spectrum as well as – in justified instances – by X-ray imaging. Also microscopic photographs shall be taken. Such documentation I vital in terms of assessing authenticity of artworks and possible later interventions, condition and integrity.
SUMMARY:
Such extensive, interdisciplinary research approach is nowadays the only warranty of comprehensive recognition of artworks (not only cognitive but also in conservation aspect). The proposed project already in a preliminary stage of preparations is a result of cooperation of heritage experts, art historians, historians, art restorers and art technology experts active within the Institute of the Study, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and other units of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Being affiliated to the NCU gives the project the benefits of access to a broad range of research equipment located in: the Institute of the Study, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Physics and in the NCU Interdisciplinary Centre of Modern Technologies.