The application of Raman Spectroscopy for the Non-destructive Analysis of Art Objects

摘要

The spectroscopic examination of artworks is of high importance for conservators, art-historians and keepers of private or public museum collections. These investigations reveal information, which is of general (art-) historical interest: the knowledge of the artistic materials that were used and were available at a certain period in a particular region and the dissemination of new methods provide information about the interactions between distinct cultures and about trade routes. The knowledge on the artists' materials that were available in particular regions and periods can help in dating artefacts. The retrieval of pigments with a well-known date of invention enables to date the artefact post quem. Other materials are known to have disappeared from the artists' palette, because they were substituted by others and retrieving enables to date artefacts ante quem. Finding anachronisms in the materials that were used, is a straightforward way for the exposure of counterfeit masterpieces. Another method consists of the comparison with the materials that were used in known works of the same artist. If it is well-established that a certain artist in a large group of works from a particular period never used certain pigments, finding these materials in a suspect painting deepens the suspicion and invites for further examinations. Besides these reasons for the spectroscopic examination of objects of art, an important purpose of this work is to help conservators in finding the reasons of the deterioration of a certain artwork and helping them in optimising the conditions of conservation. The main purpose of any analytical examination of artefacts should be to gain as much information as possible in a non-destructive way.