Unexpected Materials in a Rembrandt Painting Characterized by High Spatial Resolution Cluster-TOF-SIMS Imaging

Abstract

The painting materials of the Portrait of Nicolaes van Bambeeck (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, inv. 155) painted by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1641 has been studied using high resolution cluster-TOF-SIMS imaging. In the first step, a moderate spatial resolution (2 μm) was used to characterize the layer structure and the chemical composition of each layer on account of a high mass resolution. Then, in the second step, and despite a low mass resolution, the cluster primary ion beam was focused well below 1 μm in order to reveal smaller structures in the painting sample. The study confirmed the presence of starch in the second ground layer, which is quite surprising and, at least for Rembrandt paintings, has never been reported before. TOF-SIMS also indicated the presence of proteins, which, added to the size and shape of lake particles, suggests that it was manufactured from shearings (waste of textile manufacturing) of dyed wool, used as the source of the dyestuff. The analyses have also shown various lead carboxylates, being the products of the interaction between lead white and the oil of the binding medium. These findings considerably contribute to the understanding of Rembrandt's studio practice and thus demonstrate the importance and potential of cluster-TOF-SIMS imaging in the characterization on a submicrometer scale of artist painting materials.

The interaction of long chain sodium carboxylates and sodium dodecylsulfate with lead(II) ions in aqueous solutions

“…This omission needs to be addressed as it is relevant to areas as diverse as corrosion inhibition [32][33][34], and art conservation [36,37]. In addition, information on the phase separation mechanism and structures of the solutions will be important in the development of models of such systems.…”

“…We have become particularly interested in the interaction of lead(II) with alkanoates. This is relevant to corrosion inhibition [32][33][34], but also plays an important role in areas as diverse as studies on the lipid organization in human hair [35], and art conservation, where lead carboxylates have been shown to slowly form through the reaction between lead pigments and drying oils in historic paintings and other art works [36,37]. In addition, long chain lead carboxylates show a rich, and chain length dependent thermotropic phase behavior [38][39][40][41][42], and an understanding of the driving forces for the precipitation of these systems from solution is likely to be important for interpreting phase stability.…”

An infrared spectroscopic study of the nature of zinc carboxylates in oil paintings

“…The presence of metal soaps has been reported for numerous paintings ranging from Rembrandt in the 17th century to Salvador Dalí in the 20th century. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] These complexes of either lead or zinc with stearic and/or palmitic acid are the consequence of reactions between the common pigments lead white (2PbCO 3 $Pb(OH) 2 ), red lead (Pb 3 O 4 ), lead-tin yellow (Pb 2 SnO 4 ) or zinc white (ZnO) and the oil binder. Metal soaps defects may appear in the paint system in many different forms: as large aggregates that deform paint layers, as deposits on the surface of a paint or homogeneously spread throughout paint layers.…”

Oleanolic and ursolic acid in dammar and mastic resin: isomer discrimination by using ToF‐SIMS and multivariate statistics

“…This powerful surface analysis technique has permitted to identify and localize the organic components of resins in different kind of art objects such as paintings [9,10] and leather artefacts. [11] In ToF-SIMS experiments, the analysis of organic materials can be conducted with high selectivity and sensitivity.…”