Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Movable Heritage Research Sector
Maarten van Bommel studied Chemistry at the poly-technical school in Amsterdam from 1987 to 1992. Next he went to the University of Amsterdam where he received his Master degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1995. From 1995 to 1999 he studied for a PhD study at the University of Leiden, which resulted in a PhD in 2002. This research was devoted to the online coupling of enzymatic amplification detection to High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
He started an internship in 1991 at the central research laboratory for research to objects of art and science (CL), which merged in 1997 into the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN). From 1992 to 1995, he worked part-time at CL. Since 1999, he has held a permanent position at ICN. The ICN merged in 2011 into the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands where he has a position as senior scientist.
His research is focussed on dyestuff analysis, both natural and early synthetic dyes, and on the analysis of cellulose with Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) to determine the degree of polymerization and the analysis of volatile organic components in air. In addition, he was appointed as programme manager of paintings in 2005. Since 2004 he has worked on various projects on the textile finding from the Hallstatt salt mine and many other European archaeological findings. His main research nowadays is focused on identification and degradation studies of natural and synthetic dyes and organic pigments. In addition, he is involved in the European project CHARISMA.
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