The art history of durability can not be grasped from studying texts and by looking at art objects alone; the history of artistic materials knowledge requires first-hand experience with the materials and processes explored in the past. DURARE will use historical reconstructions as a crucial historical-analytical tool to fill the gaps between the historical act of making, and the art objects and the textual sources that describe these actions or are the products thereof. It will examine, through hands-on experiments, the historical experiences with the materials and processes used to explore and anticipate the stability and aging of art in the past. In addition, this project will use historical reconstructions as an aid in the re-materialization of art objects that were not materially durable, and have only come down to us through descriptions in texts.