Paul van Laar
Research Associate (Scientific Research)
Paul van Laar is a technical art historian and is currently a Research Associate (Scientific Research) at the Fitzwilliam Museum and Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge. His research bridges the sciences and the humanities to study how artworks were made, altered, and perceived. He is particularly interested in how the integration of scientific analysis, imaging, and historical inquiry can reveal new narratives hidden within objects.
At the Fitzwilliam and the Hamilton Kerr Institute, Paul combines non-invasive imaging methods, such as MA-XRF, infrared reflectography, X-radiography, and high-resolution microscopy—with micro-invasive techniques including cross-section analysis and SEM-EDS. Through this interdisciplinary approach, he investigates the development of artistic techniques and the historical use of materials across different media. His specialism lies in seventeenth-century Dutch painting, though his work also extends to other easel paintings, enamels, works on paper, and three-dimensional objects.
Paul obtained a cum laude MSc in Technical Art History from the University of Amsterdam (2021) and a magna cum laude BSc in Chemistry and Art History from University College Utrecht. He is currently completing a PhD jointly between NOVA University Lisbon (Research Unit VICARTE: Glass and Ceramics for the Arts) and the University of Cambridge, focusing on the varied use of the blue pigment smalt in early modern paintings. Before joining the Fitzwilliam, he contributed to several major research projects at the Rijksmuseum, including the 2023 Vermeer exhibition and Operation Night Watch. He has also developed two open-source digital tools for cultural heritage research: IntACT, an interactive tool for inspecting combined CT and 3D data of multi-material objects, and Down to the Ground, a queryable database on coloured grounds in paintings between 1500 and 1650. He also serves as assistant editor for ArtMatters: International Journal for Technical Art History.
Personal website: Https://www.paulvanlaar.nl/
- Bossema, Francien G., Paul J.C. Van Laar, Kimberly Meechan, Daniel O'Flynn, Joanne Dyer, Tristan van Leeuwen, Suzan Meijer, Erma Hermens, and K. Joost Batenburg. ‘Inside out: Fusing 3D Imaging Modalities for the Internal and External Investigation of Multi-Material Museum Objects’. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 31 (December 2023): e00296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2023.e00296.
- Brown, Tomas B.N., Giulia Moretti, Paul J.C. Van Laar, and Jessica Mantoan. 'Mending as Making: Reassessing the Production of the Chelsea Maypole Group, 1755'. (forthcoming, 2026)
- Hall-Aquitania, Moorea, and Paul J.C. Van Laar. 'Under the Microscope and Into the Database: Designing Data Frameworks for (Technical) Art Historical Research'. Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 17:2 (forthcoming, 2025)
- Hall-Aquitania, Moorea, and Paul J.C. van Laar. 'The Down to the Ground Project and Database of Coloured Grounds'. RKD Studies (2025: The Hague) ISBN: 978-90-71929-30-4 https://dttg.rkdstudies.nl/contents/
- Hermens, Erma, and Paul J.C. Van Laar. ‘Technical Art History, Itineraries, Networks and Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The Curious History of the Green “Soup” Turtle’. In Bridging the Gap: Synergies between Art History and Conservation, edited by Birgitte Sauge, Thierry Ford, Tine Frøysaker, and Klaas Jan Van Den Berg. Archetype Publications, 2024. https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/globalassets/9781916642041-btg-online.pdf
- Kiss, Maximilian B., Francien G. Bossema, Paul J.C. Van Laar, Suzan Meijer, Felix Lucka, Tristan van Leeuwen, and K. Joost Batenburg, ‘Beam Filtration for Object-Tailored X-Ray CT of Multi-Material Cultural Heritage Objects’. Heritage Science 11, no. 1 (2023): 130. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-00970-z.
- Van Laar, Paul J.C. ‘Illuminating the Obscure: The Relationship between Vermeer’s Works and Seventeenth-Century Optical Developments’. In Closer to Vermeer, edited by Francesca Gabrieli, Barbera van Kooij, Annelies Van Loon, et al. Rijksmuseum, 2025.
- Van Laar, Paul J.C, Erma Hermens, and Gregor J.M. Weber. ‘The Vermeer Camera Obscura Hypothesis Turned inside out: Complexities of Experimental Research’. Work in Progress. The Artists’ Gestures and Skills Explored through Art Technological Source Research, ICOM-CC, 2024, 67–75. https://www.icom-cc-publications-online.org/5967/The-Vermeer-camera-obscura-hypothesis-turned-inside-out--complexities-of-experimental-research.
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