What is the NWO Theme Cultural Heritage

Restorers working at the Mauritshuis Royal Cabinet of Paintings in The Hague recently discovered some unusual damage to Rembrandt's painting 'The Anatomy Lecture of Dr Nicolaes Tulp'. Some parts of the painting had swollen to such a degree that the topmost layer of paint was being displaced, resulting in localised pitting and bulging. The white lead and other lead-containing pigments, which were widely used in the 17th century, appear to be particularly susceptible to this phenomenon, leading in some cases to serious discoloration.

It is now known that the damage affects at least 0.1% of all known paintings dating from the 17th century, including paintings by Rembrandt, Hals and Vermeer. In total, tens of thousands of paintings have been affected in this way. Research efforts are directed towards finding ways of halting this process and preventing further damage being caused to valuable works of art by this phenomenon.

Before this can be done, it must be clearly ascertained what causes the phenomenon. It is suspected that it is related to moisture; as soon as more is known about this, work can begin to find a remedy. 17th-century paintings are part of the Dutch cultural heritage. Research in the field of cultural heritage is concerned with the function, perception and forms of expression of art and culture. It is a field which covers archaeology, history, art, language and literature, music and theatre - all forms of cultural expression which are of great importance to society.

The results of research in these areas are not only applied to the conservation of paintings, but also in the field of spatial planning, for example, and in national and international language and cultural policy.