umj. sur. Maja Sučević Miklin

She was born in 1987 in Zagreb. She received her master's degree cum laude in 2012 with the thesis "Conservation and restoration works on the icon of St. Peter and the Methods of Restoration of Paintings on a Wooden Carrier through History" at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Fine Arts, Department of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. From 2012 to 2020, she worked as an external associate at the Croatian Conservation Institute, the Department of Easel Painting and the Department of Wooden Polychrome Sculpture in Zagreb and Rijeka. Since 2013, she has been working as an external associate, in the title of assistant, at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, on the courses Conservation and Restoration of Wooden Sculpture, Conservation and Restoration of Easel Painting 1 and 2 and Painting 4. Since 2021, she has been working as an art associate, in the title of assistant professor, at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, in the courses Painting 4, Retouching, Conservation and Restoration of Easel Painting 1 and 2. Part of the work at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art has co-mentoring and mentoring for the preparation of graduate theses. He passed the professional exam for a conservator-restorer of works of art and received permission to perform work on the protection and preservation of cultural goods of the specialty: paintings on various carriers and polychrome wooden sculptures. He collaborates with colleagues of various specializations and from private restoration workshops and institutions. She participates and exhibits at various professional conferences and theoretical-practical workshops in Croatia and abroad (highlights International Meeting on Retouching of Cultural Heritage, Conservators-Restorers' Professional Meeting, Smartart2021, NSK Heritage crisis, Knock on Wood, Ikarfest, ConRestCon...), on projects (highlights Erasmus+ Re/Forma Viva: Reformation of Education on Wood Preservation, 2019-2021) and publishes professional papers (highlights 360 Conservation, GEIIC, Archetype...). Since 2012, she has been an active member of the Croatian Conservation Society, since 2014 she has been the secretary, and since 2022 the vice president of the society. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists.

Through the conducted courses, the research and professional interest is clearly visible – conservation and restoration works on easel paintings on different carriers with an emphasis on the reconstruction of the painted layer. The emphasis is on the painting process of copying what is seen in the painting, and includes copying the content, colors and tones, which requires knowledge of colors and painting techniques. By introducing instrumental analyses that are normally in the service of conservation and restoration of works of art, knowledge is obtained about the exact composition of the materials of all the layers from which the painting to be copied is made, as well as the way in which each layer was made and how each of these layers has changed over time under different influences. The very act of copying that uses painting enables a better practical introduction and mastery of painting techniques (oil, tempera), preparations (oil, clay-chalk) and the processing of different carriers (canvas, cardboard, wood), whereby all layers, in addition to being of exact composition, must also be identically/similarly applied using appropriate methods and tools – especially the reconstruction of the painted layer with an emphasis on mimetic retouching.

In the course Painting 4, visual, technological and technical copying of the existing or initial state of easel paintings is performed. The Retouching course provides theoretical classes and practical exercises of various methods of image retouching on different media. In the course Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art 1 and 2, exercises and conservation and restoration work are carried out on paintings on different carriers.

2024 – complete conservation and restoration work on the painting "Allegory of Venice's Victory over the League of Combrai", copy by Jacopo Negretti (Palma the Younger), unknown author of the 19th century, oil paint on canvas, 173 cm x 280 cm, Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka 2021. – 2024. – Investigative and conservation-restoration works on wooden paneling (tabulata), chapel of st. Fabian and Sebastian in Letovanić – complete conservation and restoration works on the altar "St. Polion", church of St. Eusebius and Pollion, 18th/19th century, Vinkovci, 2019 (more on the poster exhibition http://plakati-drs.splet.arnes.si/20-strokovno-srecanje-2020/) 2018 – complete conservation and restoration works on the painting "Black Flag", Ljubo Babić, painting on wood, 1916, private ownership (more about the works in the article in the journal Ge-conservación https://ge-iic.com/ojs/index.php/revista) 2016 – 2020 – painted tabulata cassettes, Chapel of St. Mary on the Rocks, Beram, 18th century In the period from 2016 to 2020, the reconstruction of the base, the painted layer and gilding and the protective varnish on the painted cassettes (52 cassettes out of 63), gilded rosettes and decorative profiled slats were carried out (more on the website of the Croatian Conservation Institute: http://www.h-r-z.hr/index.php/aktualno/novosti-i-obavijesti/3946-crkva-sv-marije-na-skrilinah-pokraj-berma)