Richard Hark

Dr. Richard Hark is a Conservation Scientist working principally with the collections of the Yale Center for British Art and the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library. After earning his PhD he spent 25 years as a chemistry professor before joining IPCH. He is currently engaged in projects involving scientific analysis of the Vinland Map, a Gutenberg Bible, 15^th century Italian tarot cards, William Henry Fox Talbot’s The Pencil of Nature and the “Reformation to Restoration” project.

Selected Publications

See also Google Scholar and ResearchGate

• Wingel, K., Hark, R., Schilling, K., Schwarz, C., Bezur, A. “Efflorescence on the paintings of Edwin Austin Abbey: Examination, analysis, and cleaning of surface bloom on The Spirit of Light,” In Proceedings of the Conference on Modern Oil Paints. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Springer, submitted.
• Harmon, R.S., Throckmorton, C. S., Hark, R.R., Gottfried, J.L., Woerner, G., Harpp, K., Collins, L.M., “Discriminating volcanic centers with handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS),” J. Archaeological Sci. 2018, 98, 112-127.
• Harmon, R.S., Hark, R.R., Throckmorton, C.S., Rankey, E.C., Wise, M.A., Somers, A.M., Collins, L.M. “Geochemical Fingerprinting by Handheld Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS),” Geostand. Geoanal. Res. 2017, 41, 563-584.
• The Art & Science of Portrait Miniatures, Jennifer L. Streb and Richard R. Hark, Juniata College Press: Huntingdon, PA, 2015.
• Harmon, R.S., Russo, R.E., Hark, R.R., “Applications of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for geochemical and environmental analysis: A comprehensive review,” Spectrochim. Acta B 2013, 87, 11-26.
• Clark, R. J. H., Hark, R.R., Salvadó, N., Butí, S., Pradell, T. “Spectroscopic study of mural paintings from the Church of Saint Eulàlia of Unha,” J. Raman Spectrosc., 2010, 41, 1128-1134.
• Hark, R.R., Clark, R. J. H. “Raman microscopy of diverse samples of lapis lazuli at multiple excitation wavelengths,” AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 1267, 315.
• Burgio, L., Clark, R. J. H., Hark, R.R. “Raman microscopy and x-ray fluorescence analysis of pigments on medieval and Renaissance Italian manuscript cuttings,” Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 2010, 107, 5726-5731.
• Burgio, L., Clark, R. J. H., Hark, R.R. “Spectroscopic investigations of modern pigments on purportedly medieval miniatures by the so-called ‘Spanish Forger,” J. Raman Spectrosc., 2009, 40, 2031-2036.
• Burgio, L., Clark, R. J. H., Hark, R.R., Rumsey, M. S., Zannini, C. “Spectroscopic investigations of Bourdichon miniatures: masterpieces of light and colour,” Appl. Spectrosc., 2009, 63, 611-620.