Early experiments in pigment analysis

Abstract

AbstractAt the beginning of the nineteenth century some of Europe's leading scientists became interested in the examination of artists' pigments. In 1800 a London doctor, John Haslam, carried out the first recorded analysis on samples from mid-fourteenth century wall paintings discovered in St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster. His work is examined and compared with that of Sir Humphry Davy, who in 1814 analysed pigment samples from excavations in Rome and Pompeii.