A death

A death

I am very sad to report the death of a dearly loved friend and
esteemed easel-painting conservation colleague, Dr. Renate
Woudhuysen-Keller, Emeritus Assistant to the Director at the
Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
She died peacefully in hospital on Thursday June 25, 2012 aged 68,
after a long illness, bravely fought, and with her husband Paul at
her bedside. Renate was held in huge respect and affection by
generations of students of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, where she
fulfilled a pivotal role as teacher and painting conservator for 34
years, since her appointment by Herbert Lank in 1978.

Her influence spread well beyond England, and her courses in the
historic painting techniques and the recreation of materials from
original sources have been inspirational to many painting
conservators across the world. She was trained in the central
European tradition in Cologne, Zurich and Stuttgart, and, beginning
with her MA thesis with Thomas Brachert, was one of the pioneers of
the discipline of technical reconstruction of historical painting
techniques and materials, linking her practical experiments to the
results of research into the sources, and examination of the
paintings themselves.

She was also a skilled and dedicated conservator of easel paintings
and polychromy, and as a teacher was both inspiring and
approachable, generating great devotion amongst all who worked with
her. Our debt to her is immense, and she will be enormously missed
by the staff and students at the Hamilton Kerr, and by the wider
community of painting conservators, many of whom have studied or
collaborated with her.

Many of you will be aware that a Festschrift in her honour will be
published later this year by Archetype publications; for more
information please contact

    Jenny Rose
    Hamilton Kerr Institute
    jr326<-at->cam<.>ac<.>uk


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:6
                   Distributed: Monday, July 2, 2012
                        Message Id: cdl-26-6-001
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