Curriculum vitae and work
As Head of Paintings Conservation at the Rijksmuseum since 2014, Petria has expanded the department, laying more emphasis on scientific research. Between 1996 and 2014 she worked as a paintings conservator at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, from 2005 as Head of Paintings Conservation in the Mauritshuis. Originally from Australia, she carried out her graduate studies in art history and conservation at New York University and trained at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As an expert in the material aspects and conservation of 17th-century Dutch paintings she has lectured and published widely. Her research interests center on technical investigations of paintings as a key to understanding artists’ painting techniques and changes in appearance. In collaboration with Delft University of Technology, she is currently researching the application of new imaging techniques for the investigation of late Rembrandt paintings as part of the Science4Arts ReVisualizing Rembrandt: the development and application of new Imaging Techniques project (2012-2018), co-funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the American National Science Foundation (NSF). She is also co-principal investigator of the 2016-2020 NICAS-funded research project entitled: Multi-isotopic analysis of early modern art Linking origin, trade and production of raw materials with provenance research, led by the department of Earth Sciences at VU, Amsterdam. She is a member of the editorial board of Art Matters: International Journal for Technical Art History.
