Articles

Mapping the pigment distribution of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

As part of the 2018 Girl in the Spotlight project, reflectance and molecular fluorescence imaging spectroscopy (RIS, FIS), and macroscale X-ray fluorescence scanning (MA-XRF) were performed on Johannes Vermeer’s

Authors: John K. Delaney, Kathryn A. Dooley, Annelies van Loon and Abbie Vandivere

Flow analysis of a set of ornamental chimney caps designed by Antoni Gaudí

We analyzed theoretically and experimentally the performance of the 19 different ornamental caps of the individual chimneys located on the terrace of Palau Güell (Barcelona, Spain) designed by Antoni Gaudí. Th...

Authors: Albert Samper, Jordi Iglesias, Blas Herrera and Jordi Pallares

New perspective on Jun glaze corrosion: study on the corrosion of light greenish blue and reddish purple glazes from Juntai Kiln, Yuzhou, Henan, China

The ancient Chinese Jun Porcelain has of typical high fired calcium silicate glaze. After observation of Jun porcelain shards excavated from Juntai Kiln in Yuzhou, Henan Province, China, two pieces with light ...

Authors: Zhimin Li, Ying Ma, Qinglin Ma, Jiachang Chen and Yan Song

Shades of blue: non-invasive spectroscopic investigations of Maya blue pigments. From laboratory mock-ups to Mesoamerican codices

Maya blue is a hybrid pigment where an organic component, indigo, is incorporated in a porous clay. Despite its widespread use in the Mesoamerican artistic production and numerous studies devoted to understand...

Authors: Chiara Grazia, David Buti, Anna Amat, Francesca Rosi, Aldo Romani, Davide Domenici, Antonio Sgamellotti and Costanza Miliani

Beauty is skin deep: the skin tones of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

The soft modelling of the skin tones in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis) has been remarked upon by art historians, and is their main argument to date this painting to c. 1665. This paper describe...

Authors: Annelies van Loon, Abbie Vandivere, John K. Delaney, Kathryn A. Dooley, Steven De Meyer, Frederik Vanmeert, Victor Gonzalez, Koen Janssens, Emilien Leonhardt, Ralph Haswell, Suzan de Groot, Paolo D’Imporzano and Gareth R. Davies

The examination of Van Gogh’s chrome yellow pigments in ‘Field with Irises near Arles’ using quantitative SEM–WDX

In this paper we present the results of quantitative measurements on the pigment chrome yellow (PbCr_1−xS_xO₄ with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) using scanning electron microscopy-wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM–WDX). Tra...

Authors: Muriel Geldof, Inez Dorothé van der Werf and Ralph Haswell

The synthesis characterization of historical novel azo pigments: implications for conservation science

A series of synthetic organic pigments (SOP’s) with azo-containing linkages have been synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies and laser desorption ionization...

Authors: Suzanne Quillen Lomax and Joseph F. Lomax

Man-made blue and purple barium copper silicate pigments and the pabstite (BaSnSi₃O₉) mystery of ancient Chinese wall paintings from Luoyang

Man-made ancient Chinese barium copper silicate pigments: Chinese (Han) Purple, BaCuSi₂O₆; Chinese (Han) Blue, BaCuSi₄O₁₀; Chinese Dark Blue, BaCu₂Si₂O₇ (in summary called Chinese blues), and platelet-like crysta...

Authors: Zhiguo Zhang, Qinglin Ma and Heinz Berke

Chemistry for cultural heritage: connecting past and future

Authors: Elena Badea

Uncovering the illegible: multi-analytical approach to reveal paint stratigraphy of corroded signposts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

Object discoveries from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (PMA-B) in Poland challenge the efforts to preserve paint on corroded steel supports. The objects have been exposed to outdoor weathering conditions ...

Authors: Gunn Pöllnitz, Manfred Schreiner, Wilfried Vetter, Bernhard Pichler and Andrzej Jastrzębiowski

Discovery and material study of the missing feet part from Magritte’s L’évidence éternelle of 1954

One of the two missing canvases from L’évidence éternelle of 1954, the one of the feet, has been discovered beneath a small woman portrait painted in 1958, La toile de Pénélope. Indeed, the underlying woman’s fee...

Authors: Catherine Defeyt, Francisca Vandepitte, Elodie Herens and David Strivay

Non-invasive identification of polymers in cultural heritage collections: evaluation, optimisation and application of portable FTIR (ATR and external reflectance) spectroscopy to three-dimensional polymer-based objects

The conservation of polymer-based cultural heritage is a major concern for collecting institutions internationally. Collections include a range of different polymers, each with its own degradation processes an...

Authors: Julianne Bell, Petronella Nel and Barbara Stuart

Reflectance FT-IR spectroscopy as a viable option for textile fiber identification

In this study, the reflectance-FT-IR (r-FT-IR) spectroscopy is demonstrated to be a suitable option for non-invasive identification of textile fibers. A collection of known textile fibers, 61 single-component ...

Authors: Pilleriin Peets, Karl Kaupmees, Signe Vahur and Ivo Leito

Creation and reference characterization of Edo period Japanese woodblock printing ink colorant samples using multimodal imaging and reflectance spectroscopy

The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division holds a large collection of Edo period (1615–1868) nishiki-e, Japanese multicolored woodblock prints. The sensitivities of some of the traditional colorants...

Authors: Tana Villafana and Gwenanne Edwards

Seeing red: towards an improved protocol for the identification of madder- and cochineal-based pigments by fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS)

Fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) is commonly used to non-invasively identify madder- and cochineal-based pigments on works of art, but the significant shifts sometimes observed in the position of t...

Authors: Beatriz Fonseca, Catherine Schmidt Patterson, Monica Ganio, Douglas MacLennan and Karen Trentelman

Poisonous books: analyses of four sixteenth and seventeenth century book bindings covered with arsenic rich green paint

Efforts to read medieval manuscript waste recycled as bookbinding material in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have resulted in the chemical analysis of four books housed at the University Library of So...

Authors: Thomas Delbey, Jakob Povl Holck, Bjarke Jørgensen, Alexandra Alvis, Vanessa Haight Smith, Gwénaëlle M. Kavich, Kimberly A. Harmon, Bertil Fabricius Dorch and Kaare Lund Rasmussen

Comparison of three 3D scanning techniques for paintings, as applied to Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

A seventeenth-century canvas painting is usually comprised of varnish and (translucent) paint layers on a substrate. A viewer’s perception of a work of art can be affected by changes in and damages to these la...

Authors: Willemijn S. Elkhuizen, Tom W. J. Callewaert, Emilien Leonhardt, Abbie Vandivere, Yu Song, Sylvia C. Pont, Jo M. P. Geraedts and Joris Dik

Research of a complex fire-induced pollution on the marble relief from the Pushkin state museum of fine arts collection

Fundamental restoration of sculptures must include the research of pollution composition and exhibit surface condition as well as accurate identification of the materials of sculptures, bas-reliefs and coating...

Authors: V. M. Pozhidaev, V. M. Retivov, A. V. Kamaev, S. K. Belus, A. S. Nartov, V. A. Rastorguev, I. V. Borodin, E. Y. Tereschenko, R. A. Sandu, E. B. Yatsishina and M. V. Kovalchuk

Looking beyond appearances: a multi-analytical approach on the prehistoric clay weights

In this paper we analyzed a batch of 64 clay weights from three archaeological sites located in Romania (Gumelniţa, Măgura-Jilava, and Sultana) that belong to Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI cultural complex...

Authors: Bogdan Manea, Mircea Lechintan, Gabriel Popescu, Theodor Ignat, Vasile Opriş, Florin Constantin, Mădălina Dimache, Valentin Parnic, Roxana Bugoi and Cătălin Lazăr

Fabrication of transparent composites for non-invasive Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) analysis of modern art works

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) has become an invaluable tool for the identification of colorants in artworks, due to its enhanced sensitivity and ability to quench fluorescence interference compared ...

Authors: Abeer Alyami, Antonio Mirabile and Daniela Iacopino

Modelling clay materials used in artworks: an infrared spectroscopic investigation

Modelling clays are utilised by artists for their malleable properties. One of the challenges in managing collections containing such materials is the variety of commercial compositions available and, therefor...

Authors: B. H. Stuart, P. S. Thomas, M. Barrett and K. Head

Characterization of the micro-contaminants from the inner-body of Kraak porcelain excavated from the “Nan’ao I” shipwreck, the South China Sea

In this paper, optical microscopy, SEM–EDS, Raman and FT-IR analyses were used to investigate different types of corrosion product between layers of glaze and body of Kraak porcelain objects that were excavate...

Authors: Jingnan Du, Wugan Luo, Naisheng Li and Changsui Wang

A non-invasive screening study of varnishes applied to three paintings by Edvard Munch using portable diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS)

The availability and popularity of portable non-invasive instrumentation for the study of paintings has increased due to a shift away from using micro-invasive techniques. Fourier transform infrared spectrosco...

Authors: Thierry Ford, Adriana Rizzo, Ella Hendriks, Tine Frøysaker and Francesco Caruso

Combined Micro- and Macro scale X-ray powder diffraction mapping of degraded Orpiment paint in a 17th century still life painting by Martinus Nellius

The spontaneous chemical alteration of artists’ pigment materials may be caused by several degradation processes. Some of these are well known while others are still in need of more detailed investigation and ...

Authors: Jonas Simoen, Steven De Meyer, Frederik Vanmeert, Nouchka de Keyser, Ermanno Avranovich, Geert Van der Snickt, Annelies Van Loon, Katrien Keune and Koen Janssens

Impact of solar radiation and environmental temperature on Art Nouveau glass windows

This work presents the results of the evaluation of two Art Nouveau glass windows from the Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves (Lisbon, Portugal) with IR-thermography during the summer solstice. According to the m...

Authors: Teresa Palomar, Miguel Silva, Marcia Vilarigues, Isabel Pombo Cardoso and David Giovannacci

The analysis of the Saltzman Collection of Peruvian dyes by high performance liquid chromatography and ambient ionisation mass spectrometry

Yarn samples from the Saltzman Collection of Peruvian dyes were characterized by several different analytical techniques: high performance liquid chromatography with both diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and e...

Authors: Ruth Ann Armitage, Daniel Fraser, Ilaria Degano and Maria Perla Colombini

Conservation issues and chemical study of the causes of alteration of a part of the Stave Church in Hopperstad (Norway)

An unidentified white substance was observed on the exterior parts of the southern side of Hopperstad Stave Church, located in Vik in Sogn and Fjordane (Norway). One of the 28 remaining stave churches in the c...

Authors: Marit Lehne, Sara Mantellato, Asel Maria Aguilar Sanchez and Francesco Caruso

Spectral information to get beyond color in the analysis of water-soluble varnish degradation

Spectral images were captured of paper samples varnished with two water-soluble materials: gum arabic and egg white. The samples were submitted to degradation processes that partially or totally eliminated the...

Authors: M. Martínez Domingo, E. Valero, R. Huertas, M. Durbán, T. Espejo and R. Blanc

Ammonium alum in alum-treated wooden artefacts: discovery, origins and consequences

Alum-treatment was extensively applied to archaeological wood from the Oseberg collection in the early 1900s, and was a common conservation method at the time involving impregnating objects with hot concentrat...

Authors: Caitlin M. A. McQueen, Jeannette J. Łucejko, Ingrid M. T. Flåte, Francesca Modugno and Susan Braovac

Characterization of a Mahamayuri Vidyarajni Sutra excavated in Lu’an, China

Historically, sutras played an important role in spreading Buddhist faith and doctrine, and today these remain important records of Buddhist thought and culture. A Mahamayuri Vidyarajni Sutra with polychrome pain...

Authors: Liu Liu, Decai Gong, Zhengquan Yao, Liangjie Xu, Zhanyun Zhu and Tonia Eckfeld

Evidence of early amorphous arsenic sulfide production and use in Edo period Japanese woodblock prints by Hokusai and Kunisada

This study explores the evolution of the manufacturing process of artificial arsenic sulfide pigments in Edo-period Japan through the analysis of three impressions of the same print dated from the 1830s and at...

Authors: Marc Vermeulen and Marco Leona

Protection of lead in an environment containing acetic acid vapour by using adsorbents and their characterization

Historical museums and depositories contain collections with a number of lead objects or historical documents with lead seals. Lead is a metal which has good corrosion resistance under atmospheric conditions. ...

Authors: Sarka Msallamova, Milan Kouril, Kristyna Charlotte Strachotova, Jan Stoulil, Kateryna Popova, Pavla Dvorakova and Miloslav Lhotka

Ion milling: the perfect cross-section of a painted textile

The successful study and conservation of historical objects is greatly enhanced by accurate materials analysis. Here embedded cross-sections from a processional marching banner were viewed by scanning electron...

Authors: M. J. Smith, T. Schmidt, K. Thompson and M. Dixon

Primary research on the bronze technology of Lower Xiajiadian Culture in northeastern China

The site of Habaqila is located in the area between Inner Mongolia and Liaoning provinces and dated to the 13th–11th centuries BC. It was identified as a metal production workshop of the Lower Xiajiadian Cultu...

Authors: Chenyuan Li, Yanxiang Li, Lixin Wang, Kunlong Chen and Siran Liu

Fading into the background: the dark space surrounding Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

The background of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665, Mauritshuis) has, until recently, been interpreted as a flat dark space. The painting was examined in 2018 as part of the research project The Girl ...

Authors: Abbie Vandivere, Annelies van Loon, Tom Callewaert, Ralph Haswell, Art Ness Proaño Gaibor, Henk van Keulen, Emilien Leonhardt and Joris Dik

Study on a silver box unearthed from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907) tomb at Xiaolizhuang Site, Henan Province, China

Over the years, numerous gold and silver artifacts were excavated from tombs of the Tang Dynasty which gave evidence of the sophisticated metalworking techniques at that time. However, very few of them were st...

Authors: Zhihui Yao and Yuxuan Gong

Infrared chemical mapping of degradation products in cross-sections from paintings and painted objects

Paintings and painted objects are quite susceptible to degradation, as paint layers are usually composed of complex mixtures of materials that can participate in chemical degradation processes. The identificat...

Authors: Eric J. Henderson, Kate Helwig, Stuart Read and Scott M. Rosendahl

Study on firing temperature of the Song Dynasty (960–1279AD) greenish-white porcelain in Guangxi, China by thermal expansion method

The original firing temperatures of porcelain pieces unearthed from Tengxian Zhonghe kiln, Rongxian Chengguan kiln, Beiliu Lingdong kiln and Guiping Xishan kiln from the Song Dynasty (960–1279AD) of Guangxi we...

Authors: Yongdong Tong and Changming Wang

Imaging secondary reaction products at the surface of Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring by means of macroscopic X-ray powder diffraction scanning

The use of non-invasive macroscopic imaging techniques is becoming more prevalent in the field of cultural heritage, especially to avoid invasive procedures that damage valuable artworks. For this purpose, an ...

Authors: Steven De Meyer, Frederik Vanmeert, Rani Vertongen, Annelies van Loon, Victor Gonzalez, Geert van der Snickt, Abbie Vandivere and Koen Janssens

The effect of halloysite nanotubes dispersions on vegetable-tanned leather thermal stability

Leather artefacts in historical collections and old leather bookbindings in archives and libraries frequently show a variety of visible changes which alter their appearance and ability to be used, such as powd...

Authors: Elena Badea, Cristina Carşote, Emanuel Hadîmbu, Claudiu Șendrea and Maria-Cristina Lupaș

Revealing the painterly technique beneath the surface of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring using macro- and microscale imaging

The initial steps that Johannes Vermeer took to create Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) are, partially or completely, hidden beneath the painted surface. Vermeer’s painting technique involved applying underlay...

Authors: Abbie Vandivere, Annelies van Loon, Kathryn A. Dooley, Ralph Haswell, Robert G. Erdmann, Emilien Leonhardt and John K. Delaney

From ‘Vermeer Illuminated’ to ‘The Girl in the Spotlight’: approaches and methodologies for the scientific (re-)examination of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1665) is the most beloved painting in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Girl was last examined during a 1994 restoration treatm...

Authors: Abbie Vandivere, Jørgen Wadum, Klaas Jan van den Berg and Annelies van Loon

Correction to: Visualizing and measuring gold leaf in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian gold ground paintings using scanning macro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: a new tool for advancing art historical research

After the publication of the original article [1], the authors identified two errors in Table 1.

Authors: Douglas MacLennan, Laura Llewellyn, John K. Delaney, Kathryn A. Dooley, Catherine Schmidt Patterson, Yvonne Szafran and Karen Trentelman

The application of FTIR microspectroscopy in a non-invasive and non-destructive way to the study and conservation of mineralised excavated textiles

The potential of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy, to inform the study and conservation of mineralised excavated textiles is discussed, highlighted by two case studies of 5th c. BCE finds. I...

Authors: Christina Margariti

Analytical characterization of 5,5′-dibromoindigo and its first discovery in a museum textile

The exploitation of natural sources and later synthetic molecules to generate blue to purple coloration in textiles has a long history in the dyer’s craft. Natural indigoids such as indigo, woad, and Tyrian or...

Authors: Gregory Dale Smith, Victor J. Chen, Amanda Holden, Melinda H. Keefe and Shannon G. Lieb

Analyzing ancient Chinese handmade Lajian paper exhibiting an orange-red color

The ancient technique employed to produce Lajian paper—a very famous Chinese traditional handmade paper—has been lost. However, widespread restoration of the traditional skills used in the paper’s production is e...

Authors: Yanbing Luo, Jiali Chen, Cheng Yang and Yifan Huang

Manuscripts in the Making: Art and Science

Authors: Paola Ricciardi

Underground transfer of carbonised organic residues to lithics during preliminary fire experiments: implications for archaeology

Using fire experiments, we investigate claims that black organic residues on lithics found in Stone Age sites are markers for heat treatment of rocks in the embers of aboveground wood fires. We buried sedges o...

Authors: Lyn Wadley, Susan Luong, Christine Sievers and Linda Prinsloo

Opaque ancient K₂O–PbO–SiO₂ glass of the Southern Song Dynasty with fluorite dendrites and its fabrication

Here we first report a piece of K₂O–PbO–SiO₂ ancient glass opacified by fluorite dendrites with archaeological background. This piece of glass was excavated from Nanhai I shipwreck, a merchant ship once heading f...

Authors: Yihang Zhou, Yuewen Jin, Kai Wang, Jian Sun, Yong Cui and Dongbo Hu

Application of a non-invasive, non-destructive technique to quantify naphthalene emission rates from museum objects

For the last 30 years, the cultural heritage sector has undertaken research into pesticide residues in museum objects. However, quantitative studies of volatile residues remain scarce. This research presents a...

Authors: Fabiana Portoni, Josep Grau-Bové and Matija Strlič