Staff Profile
Research Curator, Conservation and Technical Study Programs, Director of Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art
francesca_bewer@harvard.edu / 617-495-1643
Ph.D., Institute of Archaeology, University College, London
M.Phil., Warburg Institute, University of London
B.A., New York University
Francesca Bewer serves as liaison between the Division of Academic and Public Programs and the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. She develops and heads the public and academic programs for the Materials Lab; directs the Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art; assists with conservation-related interpretative materials in the museums; teaches; and undertakes art-technical research. An expert in the technical study of bronzes and on the history of conservation, she has published extensively on European bronze sculpture of the 16th through 18th centuries and is the author of A Laboratory for Art. Harvard’s Fogg Museum and the Emergence of Conservation in America, 1900–1950. She is a founding member of the Copper Alloy Sculpture Techniques and history: International iNterdisciplinary Group (CAST:ING). She was awarded the 2012 College Art Association/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation.
Recent Publications
“Art + Science at the Harvard Art Museums.” In Preprints ICOM Committee for Conservation 18th Triennial Meeting, Copenhagen, September 4–8, 2017. ICOM Committee for Conservation, 2017.
Bewer, Francesca G., Katherine Eremin, and Angela Chang. “Chemistry Revisited in a Laboratory for Art.” In Engaging Conservation: Collaboration across Disciplines, eds. Nina Owczarek, Molly Gleeson, and Lynn A. Grant, 190–98. London: Archetype Publications, 2017.
Anderson, Lisa, Katherine Eremin, Henry Lie, Francesca G. Brewer, and Patrick Degryse. “Is There an Ultimate Authority in Authenticity? Testing and Retesting Alexander the Great.” In Acta of the XIXth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, October 13–17, 2015.
Bassett, Jane, and Francesca G. Bewer. “The Cut-Back Core Process in Late 17th- and 18th-Century French Bronzes.” In French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century / Bronzes français: matériaux et techniques de la sculpture en bronze du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, eds. David Bourgarit, Jane Bassett, Francesca Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf. London: Archetype Publications, 2014.
Seelig-Teuwen, Regina, David Bourgarit, and Francesca G. Bewer. “Barthélemy Prieur fondeur, son atelier, ses méthodes de travail.” In French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century / Bronzes français: matériaux et techniques de la sculpture en bronze du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, eds. David Bourgarit, Jane Bassett, Francesca Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf. London: Archetype Publications, 2014.
Bourgarit, David, Francesca G. Bewer, and Geneviève Bresc-Bautier. “Francesco Bordoni: spécificités techniques chez un sculpteur-fondeur du 17e siècle.” In French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century / Bronzes français: matériaux et techniques de la sculpture en bronze du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle, eds. David Bourgarit, Jane Bassett, Francesca Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf. London: Archetype Publications, 2014.
Lie, Henry, and Francesca G. Bewer. “Ex Aere Factum: Technical Notes on Ancient Bronzes.” In Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Art Museums, 2014.
Contributor. Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums. Special Collection (online), Harvard Art Museums, 2014.
“George Stout’s Legacy in Conservation.” Index magazine, February 7, 2014.