SCIART: Instrument Development and Analysis Tools for Standoff Identification and Mapping of Binders in Paintings

George Washington University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program and co-funding from the Office of International Science and Engineering, Prof. Murray Loew of George Washington University and Drs. John Delaney and Suzanne Lomax at the National Gallery of Art are undertaking studies aimed at developing in situ methods capable of comprehensive examination of entire artworks, providing images, or media maps, of the pigments used, which in turn provide insight into the artistic working method. Specifically, the team is constructing an infrared imaging spectrometer capable of standing off from and scanning an entire painting, with high spatial and spectral resolution. The scans will be analyzed to provide maps of the composition of the binding materials used in the paints. That knowledge will help historians to better understand, and conservators to better restore, important works of art. It will help art conservators and historians understand how evolutionary changes can influence an artist's painting technique and style. It will clarify how painters worked to alter the appearance of painted surfaces by experimenting more with the binders than with the pigments alone. Finally, for the conservator, finding regions of common binders is important for determining treatment approaches. The new instrument is likely to have utility beyond the field of art conservation; there are challenging material-identification problems in both biomedical imaging and homeland defense to which the standoff, high-sensitivity, high-resolution capabilities would be directly applicable. The work will provide hands-on experience to graduate and postdoctoral students by making clear the value of analytic techniques from chemistry and engineering in art conservation. Students will join collaborators in Perugia, Italy, for several months, learning their approaches to the issues and conducting some of the benchmarking, calibration, and new-sample-library studies. That exposure should be invaluable because it will make clear the similarities and differences of various points of view that are present in this interface, and force the students to examine problems from multiple directions. There also will be benefit from cross-cultural exposure and understanding. Results will be disseminated broadly, such as by publication in scientific and popular journals and by Web sites and exhibits at both George Washington University and the National Gallery of Art.