James Ensor’s pigment use: artistic andmaterial evolution studied bymeans of portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

摘要

In this paper, portable X-rayfluorescence spectrometry (PXRF) was employed as a screening tool fordetermining and comparing the pigment use in a large series of paintings by the Belgian artist James Ensor (1860–1949). Benefits and drawbacks of PXRF as amethod, and the instrument employed, are discussed from a practical, conservation and instrumental perspective. Regardless of several restrictions due to the set-up and/or the analytical method, it appeared feasible to document the evolution with time in Ensor’s use of inorganic pigments and to correlate this technical evolution with stylistic developments, Nevertheless, it became clear that a full identification of all materials present can only be done by means of the analysis of (cross-sectioned) samples.