Team

Jo Kirby worked in the Scientific Department of the National Gallery, London, until her retirement in 2009, primarily on the history of western European painting materials and methods. Her principal research interests are the identification and technology of pigments made from natural organic dyes, particularly red and yellow lake pigments; colour change in these and other pigments caused by light and other factors; the study of historical literature relating to artists’ materials and methods of painting; the trade in artists’ materials and the costs and relative value of pigments. She also worked on the Art in the Making and Making and Meaning series of exhibitions held at the National Gallery between 1988 and 2005 and Making Colour in 2014, and has held several workshops on aspects of pigment making, painting and dyeing techniques, concentrating broadly on the Renaissance period, but also on 19th-century lake pigments. Her research interest in red and yellow natural organic pigments has extended into collaboration with others in the study of textile dyes and as part of the National Gallery’s participation in the EU-ARTECH and CHARISMA European projects (2004–9; 2009–14) she worked on various aspects of the anaysis and use of natural dyes. The CHARISMA project research resulted in the publication of Natural Colorants for Dyeing and Lake Pigments: Practical Recipes and their Historical Sources, written with Maarten van Bommel, André Verhecken and others (London, Archetype Publications, 2014).