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René Magritte, La condition humaine (The Human Condition, 1935). Oil on canvas, 54.2 × 73.2 × 1.6 cm. ©Norfolk Museums Service
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Magritte's composition La condition humaine, 1935 was found to conceal under its paint layers an entire quarter of a lost composition by the artist, until recently only known from a small black/white catalogue illustration-La pose enchantée, 1927. This study is the latest contribution to the discovery of the artist's missing painting, now known to...
Citations
... When approaching objects of cultural importance, the use of non-invasive analytical methodologies with portable instruments to study material composition is essential [10,11], especially if you want to perform extensive analyses on the whole, or most of, the surface of the artifact [12][13][14][15][16]. This approach is commonly used in the case of paintings in which, before taking samples of material to carry out any studies on the stratigraphy and organic compounds, localized or mapping analyses are carried out with non-invasive spectroscopic techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and infrared range (VIS-NIR-SWIR RS) [17][18][19][20][21][22]. ...
Bronze is an alloy composed primarily of copper and tin and since its discovery is widespread in the whole world. This alloy can thus be found in many archaeological sites and its study can give information about the technology of production, the trading routes, or the warfare within a region. However, bronze artefacts can undergo severe alteration processes, and the formation of corrosion layers of different copper minerals can prevent the readability of the artefact or even destroy it, as in the case of the ‘bronze disease’. Their preservation is crucial for maintaining a connection to our cultural heritage. In this paper, we present the study of some corroded bronze artefacts found in different burying conditions. They have been analysed through a scanner system that combines two non-invasive techniques, macro XRF (MA-XRF) and visible, near infrared, short wave infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR) reflectance, to unravel information about the metal and the patina composition, thickness, and distribution. As the corrosion of bronze depends on the burying conditions and the alloy composition, these data are of the utmost importance to understanding the alteration processes occurring in the archaeological site and to ensure the artefacts’ optimal preservation.
... Unlike some other analytical methods that may necessitate extracting samples or applying chemical treatments, XRF allows for analysis in situ without the need for invasive procedures. This minimizes the impact on the cultural artifact and supports sustainable conservation efforts [28][29][30][31][32]. ...
In the cultural heritage field, non-invasive analyses are becoming more important as they avoid any sampling, allowing in situ measurements to be performed. XRF is one of the most common among those techniques, as it allows elemental speciation of the sample with a range that goes from F to U. However, the main limitation of this technique on cultural heritage objects is due to their intrinsic inhomogeneity, both lateral and in-depth. If MA-XRF has overcome the lateral inhomogeneity through the collection of multiple XRF spectra in different positions, it is more difficult to find an optimal way to perform in-depth analyses. Now, only confocal micro XRF allows for precise 3D analyses, as other techniques are limited to certain kinds of samples. In recent years, however, angle-resolved XRF has given promising results in the analysis of layered samples. In this study, we will review the information about this new analytical technique and its advantages and disadvantages in studying cultural heritage objects following our recent studies.
... Painted objects were also studied: such is the case of thickness of metallic mono-layered coatings applied to panel paintings, like gildings [37]. Some of the cited methods employed p-XRF systems, but also the most recent XRF scanning (macro-X-ray fluorescence, MA-XRF), that have become popular in paintings examinations for authentication and material distribution studies [38][39][40][41][42][43]. Speaking of MA-XRF, MC codes was also applied to scanning systems to investigate specific layers of interest in paintings [44,45]. ...
This paper presents the application of an established XRF-MC (X-ray fluorescence-Monte Carlo) protocol to evaluate for the first time the thickness of pictorial layers in illuminated manuscripts. A previously investigated, sixteenth-century book printed in Paris (BPE, Inc. 438) was chosen as the case study: multiple analysis spots were scanned in selected areas (painted and unpainted) with p-XRF (hand-held XRF); later, the obtained spectra were compared against Monte Carlo simulations. Two pathways of MC simulations emerged: a three-layer model for the painted areas (stratigraphic sequence, from outer to inner: pictorial layer–underdrawing–parchment) and a two-layer model for the unpainted areas (underdrawing–parchment). Also, the calculated thickness of each simulated layer was compared against the thickness of micro-samples from Inc. 438. The results proved the protocol to provide quantitative compositional and stratigraphic data, yet with limitations. Results encourage the future research to elaborate a protocol.
... Imaging science and computational methods have increasingly been applied to cultural heritage objects over the past decades [1][2][3][4][5], including optical coherence tomography [6], non-destructive X-ray imaging modalities such as radiography [7], phase contrast [8] and macroscopic X-ray fluorescence [9] and investigations combining multiple techniques [10,11]. The focus in this article is on In CT-based research in the fields of technical art history and conservation, the research questions are linked to internal structures and features that are difficult to access such as toolmarks or fingerprints inside the object, or separation lines between different materials. ...
Computed Tomography (CT) has proven itself as a powerful technique for analysing the internal structure of cultural heritage objects. The process followed by conservators and technical art historians for investigating an object is explorative: each time a new question is asked based on the outcome of the previous investigation. This workflow however conflicts with the static nature of CT imaging, where the planning, execution and image analysis for a single CT scan can take days, or even weeks. A new question often requires conducting a new experiment, repeating the process of planning, execution and image analysis. This means that the time that is needed to complete the investigation is often longer than originally anticipated. In addition, it brings up more practical challenges such as the transportation of the object, facility availability and dependence on the imaging operator, as well as the cost of running additional experiments. A much needed interactive imaging process, where the user can adapt the CT scanning process based on the insights discovered on the spot, is hard to accomplish. Therefore, in this paper we show how a time-efficient explorative workflow can be created for CT investigation of art objects, where the object can be inspected in 3D while still in the scanner, and based on the observations and the resulting new questions, the scanning procedure can be iteratively refined. We identify the technical requirements for a CT scanner that can address the diversity in cultural heritage objects (size, shape, material composition), and the need for adaptive steering of the scanning process required for an explorative workflow. Our approach has been developed through the interdisciplinary research projects The See-Through Museum and Impact4Art. We demonstrate the key concepts by showing results of art objects scanned at the FleX-ray Laboratory at CWI, Amsterdam.
... WD-XRF is developed for qualitative and quantitative analyses of elements with atomic number ≥ 4 (Be), which features the quantitative function provided that samples are properly prepared and calibration is strictly operated; while ED-XRF is applicable for qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses of elements from atomic number 9 (F) to 92 (U) in principle [25], which features quick and sensitive measurement without pretreating or touching samples, just fitting in with the needs of the museum field [24]. The metallic elements in alloy-based artefacts [26,27], antique polychromy [28], paintings [29,30] and porcelains [31,32] were all successfully detected by different types of XRF measurement. Compared with WD-XRF, ED-XRF is commoner in the museum field due to lower cost, simpler structure and easier operation as well. ...
Nine gemstone samples were analysed by using a portable X-ray fluorescence–X-ray diffraction (XRF–XRD) system without any destructive preparation processes. The samples were measured by groups based on the transparency and the complexity of molecular structure. The XRF and the XRD measurements for each sample were performed simultaneously. The key experimental parameters were optimized in order to obtain XRD patterns acceptable for phase identification in a limited time. The XRF spectrum of each sample was analysed first to acquire the elemental composition qualitatively, and the information was then applied to refining possible phases. The phase analysis process of each sample was described in detail and the most likely phases were determined. Normal XRD experiments were conducted in order to verify the results. Advantages, disadvantages and applicable range of the system were analysed. The results indicate that the portable XRF–XRD system can be applied to identifying particular gemstones effectively, while single-crystal gems may not be identified very well. Wider recognition and application of the portable XRF–XRD system in cultural heritage and gemological fields call for hardware development, software updating and more real application cases.
... Like reported for several other Magritte's oil paintings and observed in MA-XRF scan of the painting side, the present canvas has been primed with two separate ground layers, a first one based on lead white and a second one based on zinc white [2,[13][14][15][16]. ...
Abstract One of the two missing canvases from L’évidence éternelle of 1954, the one of the feet, has been discovered beneath a small woman portrait painted in 1958, La toile de Pénélope. Indeed, the underlying woman’s feet revealed through the IRR and XRR images leave little doubt about the identity of the hidden composition. All the more so as the canvas dimensions perfectly match with the format ascribed to the feet part in the diagram Magritte made of the 1954 variant of L’évidence éternelle. This paper presents the main results of the material study conducted on La toile de Pénélope by means of non-invasive and complementary imaging and analytical techniques. Furthermore, it proposes a virtual colorized reconstruction of the hidden picture, built on the basis of the XRR and IRR images, the elemental information provided by the MA-XRF analysis, the Raman results and the microscope examination of the painting surface.
... MA-XRF employing lower energies (<20 keV) is a highly effective tool for assessing the elemental content of hidden layers in cultural heritage objects, as demonstrated by numerous MA-XRF investigations employing monochromatic synchrotron radiation below 20 keV [5][6][7][8][9][10] and lab-based sources employing Rh, Mo, or Pd targets [11][12][13][14][15][16]. However, some of the earliest efforts to recover information about obscured layers in paintings employed high-energy synchrotron radiation, including examinations of works by Van Gogh (38.5 keV) [4,17] and Rembrandt (>20 keV) [18]. ...
... The presence of the underlying landscape suggests that Daumier, who was struggling financially during this period [2], may have reused a panel discarded by another artist. A verso inscription, "Interieur a Afrique/Voyage du Capitaine Speke," is located in the same orientation as the landscape and alludes to the British explorer, John Hanning Speke. 2 Scanning x-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) employing both laboratoryand synchrotron-based systems is increasingly used to study painted surfaces, both to rapidly assess palette, technique, and conservation state, [3][4][5][6][7], and to visualize underlying features [8][9][10][11][12]. In particular, synchrotron radiation offers greater flux, higher spatial resolution, and the ability to select the incident energy [13]. ...
Exit from the Theater, in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City since 1932, has long been attributed as a late work by Honoré Daumier completed around 1863. The painting, on a reused panel of tropical hardwood, is based on a portion of a Daumier print, and microanalytical studies confirm that the palettes of the theater scene and an underlying landscape are both compatible with the 1863 date. However, direct connection between the artist and the painting has never been established. The landscape, and any connection it might offer to Daumier, cannot be revealed by radiographic inspection due to an intervening layer of lead white paint.
Macroscopic XRF (MA-XRF) mapping to clarify the underlying composition was initially carried out using a tube-based system; however, the limited number of detectable elements and dynamic range were insufficient to depict an understandable image. Scanning electron microscopy and elemental analysis of cross sections guided the optimization of further MA-XRF scans using monochromatic excitation and the Maia detector at beamline A2 of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. Scans were performed at two different energies, first at 12.9 keV, below the lead L3 edge (13.035 keV), and second at 38.5 keV, above the barium K edge. Areas of interest were studied with scanning x-ray diffraction (MA-XRD) at 38.5 keV.
Synchrotron MA-XRF imagery and MA-XRD data have opened promising avenues for clarifying the authorship of Exit from the Theater. New details in the copper, arsenic, tin, cadmium, and antimony XRF maps revealed a previously concealed mountainscape, rendering the landscape recognizable as a view sketched by explorer John Hanning Speke during his expedition to the source of the river Nile (1857–59). Identification of the landscape has led to inquiries into artists in Daumier's circle connected with the French publication of Speke's journal. Furthermore, a replication experiment, MA-XRF, and MA-XRD confirm that an unusual texture observed in radiography, resembling paint spread by a brayer rather than brush, arises from the intervening lead white layer. We also demonstrate the use of synchrotron MA-XRD as a non-sampling probe of paint stratigraphy, locating an ambiguous XRF feature to the theater scene stratum. These observations of technique, combined with pigment microanalysis, will inform the relationship of Exit from the Theater to Daumier's oeuvre.
... Mondrian was studied using chemometric methods [11]. Very impressive, two independent teams reported the third [12] and fourth [13] missing quarters of a painting cut up and covered over by Matisse. A full description of all the papers involving fine arts would involve a who's who of many important Western painters over the past 500 years. ...
... It has first resurfaced in 2013 through the discovery of its upper and lower left parts, in the subsurface of two oil paintings from 1935, respectively Le portrait (RMCR n°379) and Le modèle rouge (RMCR n°382) [7,8]. In 2016, it is the lower right section of La pose enchantée that was discovered beneath the paint layers of La condition humaine, dating also from 1935 (RMCR n°390) [9]. Until very recently, what happened to the upper right section of this quartered painting remained a challenging question addressed to art historians and conservation scientists around the world. ...
... The XRR image recorded for Dieu n'est pas un saint, illustrated in Fig. 2, unveiled straightaway a female nude from above the head to the lower breast, unrelated to the current composition. Portrayed in profile, in a sculptural style, the truncated large-scale female figure beneath the surface paint layers was promptly [8,9]. The discovery of the top right part of La pose enchantée beneath Dieu n'est pas un saint (RMCR n°392) finally allows resolving the worldwide puzzle caused by this important Magritte's youth painting, untraceable from 1932 [6]. ...
... While the XRR allowed visualizing the hidden composition in detail, the MA-XRF analysis made possible to characterize the pigments associated to the overpainted features, as well as those related to the current composition. These results are in good concordance and complimentary with the ones obtained on the other quarters [8,9]. Strips of canvas of a few centimeters wide in the middle of painting are still unaccounted for. ...
The last missing quarter of La pose enchantée, a 1927 Magritte’s oil painting disappeared in 1932, has been finally found beneath Dieu n’est pas un saint, picture painted by the Belgian surrealist between 1935 and 1936, conserved at the Brussels Magritte Museum (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium) (inv. 11681). The in-depth study conducted on Dieu n’est pas un saint by means of non-invasive and complementary imaging and analytical techniques has allowed formulating substantiated conclusions regarding this double painting. On the one hand, the routine imaging methods, including XRR, IRR and digital microscopy, have delivered a comprehensive outcome regarding the transformation process of the right top part of La pose enchantée into the current composition. On the other hand, the pigments used for both the visible and the hidden composition have been characterized through the MA-XRF analysis of the whole picture and punctual Raman measurements. Additionally, the present paper proposes a virtual colorization of La pose enchantée, which has been build on the basis of the overall material evidences collected about the right top part lying beneath Dieu n’est pas un saint.
