Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art Conservation

Reader 1

Julia Lum

Reader 2

Kathleen Purvis-Roberts

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Rights Information

© 2025 Anna Shobe

Abstract

For my thesis, I have the ambition of creating a sort of guide on the treatment and analysis of this model guillotine, first by filling in some historical background about the object, informed by prisoner accounts and scholarship around similar Napoleonic bone models. As well as the materiality of the object, which will be discovered through instrumental analysis using a Microfadeometer to test for light sensitivity of the bone itself and the colored pigments present and a Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy to attempt to test for the classification of said pigments. These methods will not only inform the direct atmosphere both physically and politically in which the object was made but also test for avenues of present and future treatment.

The overarching goal of this paper is to provide historical context and fill a gap in conservation, as many of these objects and those of a similar materiality have survived to this day but are housed in private collections or auction houses. Those of which generally do not have the knowledge needed to provide long-term care to the models. By compiling in one place the information that would be needed in order to understand the best methods for the models’ treatment, I hope this paper will aid said object proprietors in ensuring their longevity.

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