Pigment analysis
The pigment analysis is used to detect the pigments that an artist used to create a work of art.
Investigation procedure
Scientific research methods are used for the verification. These include a. the emission spectral analysis , the neutron activation analysis , the X-ray fine structure analysis , the various methods of chromatography , the microchemical investigation methods and microscopy .
findings
While some pigments such as white lead and earth colors were available to the artist at all times, others such as titanium white were not used until around 1916 or, like tin lead yellow , were no longer used from around 1750. By providing evidence of a pigment that did not yet exist or was no longer manufactured / used at a certain time, the possible creation time of a work of art can be narrowed down. For example, a painting in which titanium white has been proven cannot have been made before about 1916. The pigment analysis enables the detection of certain pigments in a work of art to determine the point in time after which it must have been created ( terminus post quem ) or before which it could have been created ( terminus ante quem ).
application
With the help of the pigment analysis, late copies, forgeries , overpainting and retouching can be detected under the above conditions . The interpretation of pigment analyzes requires precise knowledge of when which pigments were first used or no longer used.
literature
- Knut Nicolaus: DuMont's picture lexicon to identify paintings. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1982, ISBN 3-7701-1243-1 .
- J. Riederer: works of art viewed chemically. Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1981.
Individual evidence
- ↑ H. Kühn: Possibilities and limits of the investigation of paintings with the help of scientific methods . In: Maltechnik / Restauro . tape 3 , 1974, p. 149-162 .
- ^ Chr. Wolters: Scientific methods of art history . In: Encyclopedia of the humanities working methods . Munich / Vienna 1970, p. 69 ff .