Esther Pitoun is a Master’s student in Technical Art History at the University of Amsterdam, where she is focused on the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage with a particular emphasis on historical techniques and material analysis.  She moreover holds a double Master’s Degree in Cultural Heritage studies, focused on the Arts of the Netherlands, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Culture, Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martin school in London.

In the course of her professional experiences, she developed research, analysis, and editing skills. She published an article on Claus Sluter in the COLLECT Belgium magazine and a recent one about François du Quesnoy and François Girardon in the Rijksmuseum Bulletin, a museum she previously joined for a six-months internship. Last year, she completed a six-months internship in the Department of Sculpture in the Musée du Louvre, where she participated in a project involving Germanic wood sculptures in French museums in collaboration with the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art for their online database Aghora.

She is highly motivated by the valorisation and preservation of cultural heritage, and is therefore interested in institutions whose visions and expertises contribute to those values. She is convinced that interdisciplinary collaboration in the cultural heritage sector is of essence to expand research and knowledge. That is why, joining the project of The Dutch Method Unfolded is a wonderful opportunity for her to apply and contribute to those values. She assists with the day-to-day tasks that this project involves, including the communications with participants and the organisation of the 10 days Masterclass taking place in January 2025.

Following her work on The Dutch Method Unfolded, she hopes to continue contributing to art conservation, potentially through a PhD that deepens her expertise in art history and historic restoration conservation techniques.