Nanoscale Analysis of Historical Paintings by Means of O‐PTIR Spectroscopy: The Identification of the Organic Particles in L′Arlésienne (Portrait of Madame Ginoux) by Van Gogh

Abstract

Optical‐photothermal infrared (O‐PTIR) spectroscopy is a recently developed technique that provides spectra comparable to traditional transmission FTIR spectroscopy with nanometric spatial resolution. Hence, O‐PTIR is a promising candidate for the analysis of historical paintings, as well as other cultural heritage objects, but its potential has not yet been evaluated. This work presents the first application of O‐PTIR to the analysis of cultural heritage, and in particular to an extremely small fragment from Van Gogh's painting L′Arlésienne (portrait of Madame Ginoux). The striking results obtained, including the detection of geranium lake pigments as well as the complete analysis of the stratigraphy, failed with other state‐of‐the‐art techniques, highlight the potential of this method. The integration of O‐PTIR to the study of cultural heritage opens to the possibility of decreasing the amount of sample extracted, therefore contributing to the preservation of the integrity of artworks while providing a complete characterization of the materials.

Non-destructive 3D exploration of silicate glass corrosion: a combined multiscale approach from the macro to the nanoscale

“…The analysed sample comes from an area of the glass fragment where the surface patina is thicker. The fragment was embedded in epoxy resin (epoxy resin and slow cure hardener PELCO, Ted Pella) and thin sections were prepared using the same protocol employed by Beltran et al 21 Thin sections with thicknesses of 3.5 μm and 100 nm were cut using an ultramicrotome (Leica EM UC6) equipped with a 45° diamond knife (Diatome Histo, Leica, HI 7177). Subsequently, the 3.5 μm thin section was placed on pellets made with KBr (Sigma Aldrich, 221864-M FT-IR grade), to facilitate manipulation, while the 100 μm one was directly deposited on a TEM copper grid to perform TEM analysis.…”