VICTORIA KEMP
Dr Victoria Kemp
Contact
Email: Victoria.kemp@ashmus.ox.ac.uk
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6447-1624
Research summary
Victoria is currently working on the project titled: 'Ruskin's Painting Materials: What he used, what he chose, what he taught.' This four-year interdisciplinary research project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, explores the impact of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution on painting materials in Ruskin’s teaching collection.
The project is the first of its kind to conduct a comprehensive characterisation of watercolour pigments used by Ruskin and contemporary artists in commissioned works.
After joining the project team in October 2023, Victoria is exploring the application of surface imaging techniques combined with compositional analysis to study the painting materials and techniques of artists throughout the collection.
The project combines traditional archival research with the material analysis of a collection of watercolours that Ruskin assembled for teaching in the School of Art he opened in Oxford in 1871.
Using a pioneering interdisciplinary methodology including macro-X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared reflectography (IRR), high-resolution 3D digital microscopy, and reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), with fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), this project is conducting the first-ever systematic characterisation of the colours used in the watercolours from John Ruskin’s teaching collection.
The project aims to address questions surrounding the adoption of new synthetic materials, application techniques, dating, provenancing materials, deterioration, and conservation. This project will also offer new insights into the individual artists' materials and methods.
