End Colloquium Priscilla Cools

Hi everyone,

On the 22nd of May, I’ll be presenting my thesis on the behaviour of oil paint layers under cyclic relative humidity. When the relative humidity in a venue changes, paint and support layers can swell and shrink differently, causing internal stresses to develop. Over time, these stresses may contribute to cracking or flaking in historical paintings. Understanding this behaviour is important for museums and conservation practice, as it can help prevent damage while supporting realistic and energy-efficient climate control strategies. It can also provide valuable insight for venues that do not have the resources to maintain strict relative humidity control.

In my research, I studied several factors that influence cracking risk in oil paint, including viscoelasticity, support layers, moisture-dependent material behaviour, diffusion, and ageing. During the presentation, I’ll explain how these mechanisms work, how I implemented them in ABAQUS finite element simulation models, and how they interact under different relative humidity conditions. I’ll also discuss what these findings could mean for conservation practice.

If you’re interested in seeing how built environment knowledge can be applied to practical non-building cases, or if you’d like to know more about the conservation of oil paintings, please feel welcome to join my end colloquium!