Paul J.C. van Laar
Paul J.C. van Laar is a technical art historian based in Cambridge.
He is Research Associate Scientific Research at the Fitzwilliam Museum and Hamilton Kerr Institute, where he combines advanced scientific analysis with art historical inquiry to explore artistic techniques, material choices, and evolving visual changes in works of art.
Paul specializes in seventeenth-century Dutch painting, and, prior to moving to Cambridge, he contributed to Operation Night Watch, the ongoing study of Rembrandt’s 1642 masterpiece in the Rijksmuseum, and to the research team that underpinned the Rijksmuseum’s 2023 blockbuster Vermeer exhibition. More recently, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, he contributed to the technical research and exhibition texts of the Picturing Excess: Jan Davidsz. de Heem display, which for the first time brought together his 4 monumental ‘pronkstillevens’, painted shortly after he moved to the Southern Netherlands from the North.
Outside this specialism, Paul also supports exhibitions and multi-institutional interdisciplinary research projects on paintings and three-dimensional objects from a broad range of periods and cultures. He holds a BSc in Chemistry and Art History from University College Utrecht (2018) and an MSc in Technical Art History from the University of Amsterdam (2021) and is currently pursuing a PhD on the production, trade, and varied use of the blue pigment smalt in Early Modern painting, in a joint project between NOVA University Lisbon (VICARTE) and the University of Cambridge.
When not peering at pigment particles through a microscope, Paul can be found at the piano or bass guitar, in the kitchen, or struggling with the early-morning starts of Clare Hall Boat Club (but enjoying them nevertheless).
Select publications
- 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 (1 December 2023): e00296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2023.e00296.
- 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 Froysaker, and Klaas Jan Van Den Berg, 69–80. London: Archetype Publications, 2024.
- 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 (19 June 2023): 130. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-00970-z.
- Laar, Paul J.C. van, Erma Hermens, and Gregor J.M. Weber. ‘The Vermeer Camera Obscura Hypothesis Turned inside out: Complexities of Experimental Research’. In Work in Progress. The Artists’ Gestures and Skills Explored through Art Technological Source Research, 67–75. ICOM-CC, 2024. https://www.icom-cc-publications-online.org/5967/The-Vermeer-camera-obscura-hypothesis-turned-inside-out–complexities-of-experimental-research.
Select awards
- Lifetime Achievement Award (University College Utrecht)
Further links
Professional website: https://www.paulvanlaar.nl/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-van-laar/
