Abstract
The preservation and understanding of cultural heritage depends increasingly on in-depth chemical studies. Rapid technological advances are forging connections between scientists and arts communities, enabling revolutionary new techniques for non-invasive technical study of culturally significant, highly prized artworks. We have applied a non-invasive, rapid, high definition X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental mapping technique to a French Impressionist painting using a synchrotron radiation source, and show how this technology can advance scholarly art interpretation and preservation. We have obtained detailed technical understanding of a painting which could not be resolved by conventional techniques. Here we show 31.6 megapixel scanning XRF derived elemental maps and report a novel image processing methodology utilising these maps to produce a false colour representation of a “hidden” portrait by Edgar Degas. This work provides a cohesive methodology for both imaging and understanding the chemical composition of artworks, and enables scholarly understandings of cultural heritage, many of which have eluded conventional technologies. We anticipate that the outcome from this work will encourage the reassessment of some of the world’s great art treasures.
Highlights
The preservation and understanding of cultural heritage depends increasingly on in-depth chemical studies
In recent years considerable effort has been expended into developing large-area non-invasive examination techniques of artworks and archaeometric study of objects to fulfil a growing need to accurately understand the elemental and molecular composition of artworks[7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. This new analytical information has become critical in attribution and degradation studies and art historical assessments and is used to direct the practices of art conservators as they seek to implement new preservation strategies. It has been demonstrated with the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique that metallic elements from pigments in an underpainting can be detected and resolved with sufficient sensitivity to enable reconstruction of concealed paint layers[2,4,5,7,10,17]
The first major synchrotron study, which revealed a woman’s head under the Van Gogh painting Patch of Grass required extended examination time (~2 days, 2 second per pixel dwell time), and produced modest resolution 0.5 mm over an area of only 175 × 175 mm[2 2]. This showed the power of scanning XRF, and highlighted what had been the traditional limitation of slow pixel acquisition rates, which often resulted in compromises to the overall scan size and/or spatial resolution
Summary
The preservation and understanding of cultural heritage depends increasingly on in-depth chemical studies. In recent years considerable effort has been expended into developing large-area non-invasive examination techniques of artworks and archaeometric study of objects to fulfil a growing need to accurately understand the elemental and molecular composition of artworks[7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] This new analytical information has become critical in attribution and degradation studies and art historical assessments and is used to direct the practices of art conservators as they seek to implement new preservation strategies. Rates, enabling the potential to measure a significant portion of a painting at spatial resolutions on the order of the size of a paint brush bristle[10,21]
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