Gianfranco Pocobono and Richard Wolbers discuss how science and art merged to conserve the John La Farge murals at Trinity Church Boston, and what happens when the conservation choices are not clear cut and the world is watching. Art and science have continually flirted over the centuries. Both investigate. Both involve theories and transforming information into something else. This lecture is a part of a Museum of Science series "When Science Meets Art", which examines the mysterious symbiosis of science with art through the ingenuity of those shattering the boundaries between the two fields.
Professor Wolbers received a B.S. degree in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, in 1971. He also received an M.F.A. degree from the same institution in painting in 1977. In 1984, he earned an M.S. degree in art conservation from WUDPAC. His research interests include work in developing cleaning systems for fine art materials, as well as microscopically applied techniques for the characterization of paint binding materials. Professor Wolbers has collaborated on research projects with The Getty Conservation Institute, Columbia University, and ICCROM in Rome. He has conducted workshops on his cleaning methods in Australia, England, Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Italy and various locations throughout the United States. In winter, 1991, he was featured on *Infinite Voyage*, and presented an interactive satellite lecture from the University of Pittsburgh campus. In 2000 he published *Cleaning Paintings: Aqueous Methods* (London), and has co-authored a chapter in *Furniture Conservation* (2003).
