The Forbes Pigments Collection by Narayan Khandekar

 The Forbes Pigment Collection was originally amassed over the career of the Museums’ second director Edward Waldo Forbes (director from 1909-1944). In many ways Forbes revolutionized the profession of museology in the early 20th century at the Fogg Art Museum (now included in the Harvard Art Museums), which he considered a Laboratory for Art. In so doing, he laid the foundation of conservation and technical art history as scientific disciplines, which continues today. The pigments and their raw sources are for teaching and as reference standards in order to identify the materials used by artists in making a work of art. At present there are almost 3000 samples and growing and growing. This lecture will examine the formation of the collection, how it is used and will present some recent additions to the collection.