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.
Conservation scientists have studied daguerreotypes extensively, but surface metrology has only been used experimentally to examine their surfaces so far. Non-contact optical confocal microscopes provide Z-axis data points within a scanned X-Y area, which can be used to calculate heights, depths, widths and roughness, as well as to generate 3D surface maps with sub-micron resolution. In the context of my PhD research on the history and techniques of early printing methods for daguerreotypes, this talk explores the use of confocal microscopy to compare the microtopography of traditional intaglio copper plates with daguerreotypes that were acid-etched to convert them into printing matrices. By combining the topographical maps with data from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), we can deepen our understanding of the materials, functionality and sensitivities of etched daguerreotypes. It is hoped that the applications described here may benefit other cultural heritage studies.
Biography
Martin Jürgens is conservator of photographs at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Before coming to the Netherlands, he worked as a conservator in private practice in Hamburg. His education includes a German diploma in photography and design, an M.S. from Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Conservation from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. Following his scholarship at the Getty Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute published his book The Digital Print. Identification and Preservation in 2009. He is currently a part-time PhD student at the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK.
Explorative surface metrology of intaglio printing plates and etched daguerreotypes with optical confocal microscopy
Martin Jurgens, haired by Margriet van Eikema Hommes
organised by the Netherlands Institute for Conservation, Art and Science
11 December 2025, 1200-1300 (CET); 1100-1200 (GMT/UTC)
Free but register here: https://www.nicas-research.nl/event/nicas-colloquium-online-11-december-2025/
Comments