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NICAS Colloquium Online – 25 June 2026
We are pleased to announce a new, online edition of the NICAS colloquium on Thursday 25 June 2026 starting at 12.00 hrs. The colloquium will take place online through Microsoft Teams.
Throughout the year, NICAS organizes a bi-weekly Colloquium featuring short lunch lectures where researchers share updates, present new ideas, or discuss the outcomes of their work. The Colloquium aims to keep the field informed about the latest developments, foster the exchange of knowledge, and encourage collaboration.
This week’s presentations are by Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo (University of Amsterdam) and Valentin Rosario (Leiden University). The session will be chaired by Alba Alvarez Martin (Rijksmuseum).
►Fabiana di Gianvincenzo – The power of volatile emissions: VOC analysis to investigate the materials and chemistry of paintings
Abstract
The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a promising approach to investigate artworks, providing information on the composition and the ongoing degradation of materials via the investigation of volatile emissions, and thus with non-invasive sampling methods. The PaintWatch project aims at exploring the use of these techniques to investigate oil paintings via the analysis of oil paint mock-ups and historical paintings, alongside a wide range of materials used in painting production and restoration. The construction of a database of emissions from these materials is crucial to determine cross-contamination, and avoid over-interpretation of the results from objects with very complex compositions. The paint emissions database, or PaintED, will become a repository of GC-MS data produced in the project and be published as open-access online resource. Preliminary results from the first part of the project, dedicated to the analysis of reference materials and paint mock-ups, will be presented in this colloquium.
Biography
Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo is an analytical chemist and heritage scientist. She has earned her BSc and MSc degrees in the University of Pisa, and her PhD from the University of Copenhagen. Throughout her studies and her postdoc projects in Denmark, Slovenia and the Netherlands, she has used chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques to study organic materials used to produce and restore heritage objects, with a large focus on paintings. She is currently working at the University of Amsterdam as a Marie Curie postdoc fellow, in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, studying volatile emissions from oil paints and painting materials.
►Valentin Rosario – Flexible X-ray Laminography for Art: Building a Painting simulator
Abstract
X-ray computed tomography (CT) offers a minimally invasive means to resolve the internal structures of objects, providing critical insights into both the deterioration and the production techniques of paintings. However, optimizing acquisition methods for specific artistic features remains a challenge. Therefore, my current focus is on developing a dedicated painting simulator to evaluate various CT acquisition strategies. This tool enables the systematic assessment of which methods best reveal desired internal characteristics, allowing for the testing of conceptual imaging ideas without the energy consumption and logistical complexity of physical scanning.
Biography
Valentin Rosario is a first-year PhD student at Leiden University with a strong background in physics, having earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from EPFL (Lausanne) and the University of Amsterdam (UVA), respectively. His Master’s research focused on using computational fluid dynamics to simulate ice-shelf motion. Currently, Valentin works on the Flexart project (Flexible X-ray Laminography for Art) in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum. His research explores advanced X-ray imaging techniques for art analysis, with a primary focus on optimizing Computed Tomography for the study of paintings.