This year's edition of the Symposium for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting: titled Cross-Media Perspectives. Technical Studies of Art on Panel, Paper and Parchment (1400-1600), was held between 11 and 13 January at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and the KBR Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels.

The symposium consisted of academics hailing from all over the world and focussed on the technical examination of art in a variety of media and supports. 

Among the participants were two members from the University of Malta: an academic and an M.Sc.A candidate.

Titled Antonio de Saliba's 1515 Altarpiece for the Franciscan Observants in Rabat, Malta: an analytical and scientific investigation, the paper was presented by Dr Charlene Vella from the Department of Art and Art History (Faculty of Arts) together with Andrea Luca Bartolo, graduate in Art History and M.Sc.A candidate in the Master of Science in Conservation in the Department of Conservation & Built Heritage (Faculty for the Built Environment).

This paper focussed on the largest Renaissance altarpiece that was present on the Maltese islands, that consisted of seventeen panel paintings and an intricate, gilded framework. Eight panels form this altarpiece have been identified by Dr Vella, most of which have been diagnostically tested with the aid of warranted private conservators. The interpretation of the results obtained from such analyses was the main concern of this paper.

Bartolo stated that: 'The symposium was invaluable as it combined my interests in the scientific and historical studies of artworks to address their material and technical aspects in particular - qualities that are equally significant to both disciplines'.

As an art historian, Dr Vella has been involved in the diagnostic testing of Renaissance paintings on the Maltese islands since 2010, and such a conference "comes as a confirmation of the importance of the involvement of technical art studies in art historical studies".

Participants were also invited to view the exhibition "Dieric Bouts. Creator of Images" at Museum M, Leuven, and were given the option to participate in various workshops. Dr Vella and Bartolo attended the workshop on manuscripts held at the KBR Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, were they were able to view some of the finest fifteenth-century manuscripts from the renowned collection of the LIbrary of the Dukes of Burgundy.