Institute: Rijksmuseum

Country: The Netherlands

Biography: Theo Lange (1999) was raised in Nivelles, Belgium. He is currently working as a junior researcher for the Rijksmuseum in the department of Science and Conservation.

He studied liberal arts and sciences with a focus on chemistry during his bachelor’s at the Maastricht Science Program (MSP), graduating in December 2021. During his bachelor’s, and for his final thesis, he collaborated with Kate Seymour from the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg (SRAL) on the analysis of gesso grounds from a range of 17th-century Spanish panel paintings using scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) techniques. After graduating, he was hired for a period of three months by SRAL as a junior researcher to investigate, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the dissolution of wax-resin lining materials that had previously been treated by the institute, with the aim of developing better conservation campaigns.

Since September 2022, he has been enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Vrije Universiteit (VU) to deepen his knowledge of analytical techniques for applications in the field of Cultural Heritage. For his Master’s thesis, he joined the Rijksmuseum and conducted research on the analysis of artificially aged wax-resin lining mock-up samples based on the recipe used for The Night Watch’s third wax-resin lining. This research utilized infrared spectroscopy, together with volatile organic compound (VOC) and pyrolysis (Py) gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Currently, Theo is working part-time as a junior researcher at the Rijksmuseum and part-time finishing his literature thesis on the topic of in-situ, non-invasive techniques for the analysis of photodegradation on solid materials. During this second edition of the masterclass, Theo will be responsible for analyzing the wax-resin materials using Py-GC-MS brought from the different painting collections of the participants.