Michel Menu

Michel Menu is a Principal Research Scientist at the Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) of the Cyprus Institute. He got his PhD in physics/optics in 1978 from The University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6 and a habilitation in Physics in 1992 from the University Paris-Sud-Saclay, Paris 11.

He was the Head of the Research Department (Laboratory) of the C2RMF from 2001 until 2021, with 45 permanent researchers and technicians, including art historians, physicists, chemists, radiologist, image specialists, with the addition of 15 non permanents (post-docs and PhD students). He was co-leader (with Didier Gourier, Professeur École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie Paris) of the team Physico-Chimie des Matériaux Témoins de l’Histoire (PCMTH) inside the CNRS unit (UMR 8247: Institut de Recherche de Chimie Paris, IRCP).

His research activities concern the study of the colour of artworks and develop new methodologies in order to analyze colour and appearance attributes on paintings in a non-invasive way in collaboration with Rijks Conservatie Erfolg, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery London, Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence and Metropolitan Museum, NY.

He has been the French coordinator of various projects which have developed the discipline of Heritage Science in France and in Europe. He lead the Project Modigliani's Secrets (2018-2021) in which all the Modigliani's works kept in the French museums were analysed (Publication in press).

Research interests: Heritage Science, Color Analysis, Multispectral and Multiscale analysis 

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