Chemical imaging of historical paintings: shedding light on the complexity of artistic formulations.

by Dr Laurence De Viguerie (Sorbonne Université, Paris)

Tuesday 1 Aug 2023, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Athens

The study of historical paintings requires the use of complementary analytical imaging techniques - to probe and image the intrinsic complexity of such objects and fully understand the artists' use of materials and brushwork. Over the last decade, the LAMS laboratory (CNRS / Sorbonne University) has developed its own mobile laboratory that combines a variety of non-invasive portable instruments: portable XRD-XRF, MA-XRF, Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy in the visible and near infrared range. More particularly with X-ray instruments designed in house to fulfill our research needs and constraints, the developed analytical methodology provides an enhanced identification of various artistic materials, as well as a deeper understanding of their relationships at the object scale. From multiple examples of joint research at the LAMS laboratory on paintings from the Renaissance period as well as Asian art, I will illustrate the role of chemical imaging techniques to provide new information about the artist’s palette and a better understanding of the artist’s making process and intention.

The Colloquium will be held in hybrid format, with physical presence in the Seminar Room of the Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, NCSR Demokritos

and 

Videoconference via https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83725044405

de Viguerie.mp4