Karen Trentelman
Senior Scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)
Biography
Karen Trentelman is a senior scientist at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) where she leads the Technical Studies research group. She is also active in the education and training of scientists and conservators in the application of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to the study of works of art, having organized bi-annual workshops since 2002. She was a research scientist at the Detroit Institute of Arts before joining the Getty in 2004.
Education
Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University
Postdoctoral Research at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, Chicago
Areas of Interest
Technical studies; Non-invasive spectroscopies (XRF, Raman, FORS) and imaging technologies; reverse engineering of historic artistic practices; elucidation of pigment degradation pathways; fostering communication between scientists, conservators and curators.
Selected Publications
Handheld XRF in Cultural Heritage: A Practical Workbook for Conservators. Bezur, Anikó, Lynn Fong Lee, Maggi Loubser, and Karen Trentelman. Getty Conservation Institute: Los Angeles (2020).
“Analyzing the Heterogeneous Hierarchy of Cultural Heritage Materials: Analytical Imaging”, Karen Trentelman in Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry 10: 247-70 (2017).
“Rembrandt’s Old Man in Military Costume: A Hidden Portrait Re-examined”, K. Trentelman, K. Janssens, G. van der Snickt, J. Dik, Y. Szafran, A. Woollett, Applied Physics A, 121 (3), 801-811 (2015).
“Multivariate analysis of Raman spectra of carbonaceous black drawing media for the in situ identification of historic artist materials”, Nathan S. Daly, Michelle Sullivan, Lynn Lee, and K. Trentelman, J. Raman Spectroscopy, 49 (9) 1497-1506 (2018).
“Seeing red: towards an improved protocol for the identification of madder-and cochineal-based pigments by fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS)”, B. Fonseca, C.S. Patterson, M. Ganio, D. MacLennan, and K. Trentelman, Heritage Science 7 (1), 92 (2019).
“Vittae Auratae: Interpreting the History and Technology of a Group of Roman Gold Textile Fragments, M. Hart, M. Ganio, S. Maish, D. MacLennan and K. Trentelman, Getty Research Journal, 14, 1-20 (2021).
