Methodological evolutions of Raman spectroscopy in art and archaeology

Bersani, Danilo; Conti, Claudia; Matousek, Pavel; Pozzi, Federica; Vandenabeele, Peter

doi:10.1039/c6ay02327d

Cited by 77 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 218 publications

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“…With regards to pigments, Raman spectroscopy is a powerful identification tool [39,40] and can be used noninvasively on the objects themselves. However, lacquered objects usually present a high proportion of organic materials compared to the amount of inorganic pigments, which results in high background fluorescence when using portable instruments directly on the objects [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the materials used in the yun technique for the decoration of Burmese objects: lacquer, binding media and pigments

et al. 2019

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A series of Burmese lacquered objects decorated with the yun (incised) technique and belonging to the British Museum's collection was analysed with the aim to investigate the decorative materials-lacquer, binding media, additives and pigments-used in the production of these objects, which span chronologically from the eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. As the manufacturing process is supposed to have remained very similar over this time period, especially regarding the use of materials, we were interested in scientifically assessing for the first time the nature of these materials and the correspondence to the written sources in the relation to their specific use. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and analytical pyrolysis with in situ silylation coupled with GC-MS (Py(HMDS)GC-MS) were used for the identification of the organic components in several samples taken from the coloured areas of the objects. Fibre optic reflectance (FORS) and Raman spectroscopies were used to identify the pigments after a visual investigation of the samples by digital microscopy. Burmese lacquer was detected in all objects and trends in its degradation were highlighted. Lipids, proteins and saccharide material were found to be mixed with lacquer, and they appeared to be applied with specific pigments, in good agreement with the written records, apart from proteins, which are not mentioned. The use of synthetic pigments, such as phthalocyanines blue and green and chrome yellow, was assessed in the most recent objects, showing an evolution in the use of pigments. Indigo, although expected, was not identified in any of the green samples and Prussian blue appeared to be the main source of blue colour. All this information is of fundamental importance for conservation practices and corrects the general opinion about the production materials of these objects. These results also open the way to future research dedicated to exploring the chemical interaction between Burmese lacquer, proteins, lipids, gums and pigments, with the aim to predict possible differences in degradation pathways.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the materials used in the yun technique for the decoration of Burmese objects: lacquer, binding media and pigments

et al. 2019

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“…The second technique applied to La Violoniste was Raman spectroscopy [10]: it consists in the detection of the scattered photons coming from a molecule excited by a monochromatic beam. The wavelength shift between these scattered and exciting photons depends on the vibrational energy states of the molecule analyzed and allows thus to identify it.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of a woman portrait behind La Violoniste by Kees van Dongen through hyperspectral imaging

et al. 2017

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Despite the fact that Kees van Dongen was one of the most famous painters of the twentieth century, only little information about his palette and his technique is available. To contribute to the characterization of van Dongen's painting materials, La Violoniste, painted by the artist around 1922, has been analyzed by using three complementary techniques: macro X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF), Raman spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging. The elemental repartition given by MA-XRF and the results obtained thanks to Raman spectroscopy help us to complete the identification of pigments contained in La Violoniste (lead white, iron oxides, cadmium yellow, vermilion, Prussian blue, titanium white, ultramarine, a red lake, a chromium pigment and carbon black) while the results obtained via hyperspectral imaging reveal a hidden woman portrait. Besides the fact that Kees van Dongen was particularly renowned for his female portraits, this hidden composition presents stylistic similarities with the well-known portraits produced by the artist from around 1920, when he was a famous worldly portraitist. Thanks to Raman spectroscopy, visual examination and MA-XRF, we show that the original background contains ultramarine, the hidden portrait's clothes are maybe made of the same colour as the present violinist's dress and her face contains zinc, contrary to the violinist's flesh which is mainly made of lead white.

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“…Conventional Raman microscopy is a powerful tool for the study of art objects . Its high‐chemical specificity is particularly useful for pigment and decay products identification.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring street art paintings by microspatially offset Raman spectroscopy

Botteon

Colombo

Realini

et al. 2018

J Raman Spectroscopy

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Microspatially offset Raman spectroscopy (micro-SORS) is a recently developed analytical technique combining SORS with microscopy. With this method, highly diffusely scattering microlayers such as painted stratigraphies can be noninvasively probed. In this study, we explore micro-SORS for identifying the chemical composition of subsurface layers in real, street art mural paintings as a new nondestructive method for the characterization of their stratigraphy. Two micro-SORS variants, defocusing and full micro-SORS, were tested and compared.

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Methodological evolutions of Raman spectroscopy in art and archaeology

Cited by 77 publications

References 218 publications

The evolution of the materials used in the yun technique for the decoration of Burmese objects: lacquer, binding media and pigments

The evolution of the materials used in the yun technique for the decoration of Burmese objects: lacquer, binding media and pigments

Discovery of a woman portrait behind La Violoniste by Kees van Dongen through hyperspectral imaging

Exploring street art paintings by microspatially offset Raman spectroscopy

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