History of Art Technology and Materials I

Objectives

HTPA is a course distributed in 2 semesters, and therefore named HTPA1 and HTPA2. The course was created by an Art Historian, Pedro Redol, and a Chemist, Maria João Melo, they both having specialized in the field of Conservation and Restoration. To our knowledge this was the first course in Portugal dedicated to Technical Art History, and during its preparation we had as advisor Dr. Adília Alarcão.
The principal aim of this course is to create an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of Work of Art and Artifacts of cultural or historic relevance. The understanding is build up through seminars (4h), workshops (52h) and theoretical lessons (28h). It is a stimulanting and demanding course, due to its interdisciplinary paradigm and, usually, students show an excellent performance, namely in the Workshops. The average expecting working time for the student, without contact with the teacher, is 30-40h of study and 52-60h for the preparation of WS and reports.