Staff Profile
Director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies and Senior Conservation Scientist
narayan_khandekar@harvard.edu / 617-495-4591
Ph.D., University of Melbourne
Pg.D., Courtauld Institute of Art
B.Sc. (Hons), University of Melbourne
Narayan Khandekar leads the Straus Center’s conservation and research activities. Specializing in the scientific analysis of paintings and painted surfaces, he has published extensively on the subject. His laboratory established a postdoctoral fellowship for scientists wishing to pursue a career in conservation science. Khandekar has coordinated international groups on conservation science and has sat on numerous advisory committees. He curates the Forbes Pigment Collection and the Gettens Collection of Binding Media and Varnishes.
Recent Publications
Morilla, Cristina, Narayan Khandekar, Kate Smith, and Anne Schaffer. “Colored Grounds and Transfer Techniques in 17th-Century Spanish Royal Portraiture: The Case of Pantoja de la Cruz’s Portrait of Philip III at the Harvard Art Museums.” In CATS Proceedings V, CATS Conference 13–14 June 2019. Copenhagen: Archetype Publications. In press.
“The Forbes Pigment Collection: Exploring the Discipline of Technical Art History.” The Botanical Artist: Journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists 29 (1) (2023): 32–33.
Rayner, Geogina, Narayan Khandekar, Katherine Eremin, et al. “Pigments and Binders Used in Bark Paintings by Aboriginal Artists from across the Northern Territory and the Kimberly Region in Western Australia.” Studies in Conservation (2023).
“On the Use of Culturally Appropriate Technical Terminology.” In Papers Presented during the General and Concurrent Sessions, AIC’s 50th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, May 13–18, 2022, Vol. 1 (2022), 41–44.
“The Research and Technical Study (RATS) Group: Technical Art History.” In Papers Presented during the General and Concurrent Sessions, AIC’s 50th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, May 13–18, 2022, Vol. 1 (2022), 253–55.
Hendriks, Laura, Stefan Kradolfer, Tiziana Lombardo et al. “Dual Isotope System Analysis of Lead White in Artworks.” Analyst 145 (4) 2020: 1310–18.
Kradolfer, Stefan, Laura Hendriks, Tiziana Lombardo, et al. “Age and Provenance Analysis from Micrograms of Artwork Pigments.” Chimia: International Journal for Chemistry 74 (4) (2020): 299.
“A Tour of Harvard’s Forbes Pigment Collection.” In Almost Lost Arts: Traditional Crafts and the Artisans Keeping Them Alive, by Emily Freidenrich. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2019, 41–45.
Khandekar, Narayan, Katherine Eremin, and Penley Knipe. “The New Science and Technology behind Art Conservation.” In Science and South Asia. Cambridge, Mass.: Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, 2019, 54–61.