UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Maggie Davis doesn’t look like a detective. She doesn’t wear a trenchcoat, a fedora or carry a magnifying glass. But she’s solving a mystery that dates back to the early years of the United States and the birth of the American artistic tradition.
It began with a simple question: Who is the man in red?
The man in red
Davis, an art history major at Penn State, was discussing her hopes to combine her love of both art history and the physical sciences with Patrick McGrady, a curator at the Palmer Museum of Art, who showed her a number of mysterious pieces with unanswered questions in the museum’s collection. One painting in particular stood out to her: a portrait of a man in regal crimson attire, painted by an unknown artist.
Who was this enigmatic figure? When, where, why and by whom had his likeness been immortalized in pigment? Davis found herself a bona fide mystery, one she had the training and tools to solve through her art history and biochemistry studies.
“Ever since high school, I knew I wanted to combine science and history, to use science to study history, and when I took my first art history class here at Penn State, I fell in love with the field,” said Davis. “Now, through this project, I’m really able to take everything I’ve learned and figure out how to apply science to answer real-world questions.”
For McGrady, this type of work exemplifies the kind of cross-departmental collaboration that represents the future of the museum, while also demonstrating Davis’ drive and talent on the cutting edge of her chosen field.
“She’s using approaches that art historians and conservators would use in tandem; art historians often don’t have scientific expertise, while scientists often lack a high level of art expertise — and Maggie is doing both,” McGrady said. “She is doing the kinds of things right now that very few students in art history have the chance to do, and is laying the foundation for what she can go on to do as a conservator.”
With the support of McGrady and the College of Arts and Architecture, Davis was ready to get to work. But all she knew was that the painting had been donated about 30 years ago by a British woman from a notable family, who believed the subject was one of her ancestors. With no other leads to go on, Davis did what any detective would do: her legwork.
The investigation
Through extensive genealogical research, using the donor’s family name as her starting point, Davis’ detective work led her to uncover the legacy of one Dr. John Carson — an Edinburgh-educated Philadelphia native and physician who helped found the medical college at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. The puzzle pieces all seemed to fit: The regalia was period-appropriate and Carson’s wife moved back to England after his death, which would explain how it ended up in the possession of who Davis believes to be the doctor’s great-great-great granddaughter.
But Davis is a scientist, and she knew she would need more evidence to support her case — and maybe a little help. But luckily, like any good detective, she had the perfect partner to help her crack this case: the researchers of the Materials Research Institute in the Millennium Science Complex.
“Our lab was planned and conceived around interdisciplinary research,” said Vince Bojan, a surface scientist with the materials characterization lab and one of the researchers who’s joined Davis in her investigation. “This project is a great example of how we can apply materials characterization across disciplines. There is a great deal of very interesting and useful science and research that can be done when our disciplines interact.”