TY - JOUR
T1 - Identification of red colorants in van Gogh paintings and ancient Andean textiles by microspectrofluorimetry
AU - Claro, Ana
AU - Melo, Maria João
AU - Seixas de Melo, J. Sérgio
AU - van den Berg, Klaas Jan
AU - Burnstock, Aviva
AU - Montague, Meredith
AU - Newman, Richard
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Portuguese Science Foundation, through the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry and the projects POCI/QUI/55672/2004 “The molecules of color in art: a photochemical study”, PTDC/EAT/65445/2006 “The identity of Portuguese medieval manuscript illumination in the European context” and the PhD grant SFRH/BD/36130/2007. The authors would also like to thank to Muriel Geldof and Lydia Milsom who made the van Gogh and the Pissarro cross sections.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Red lake pigments and dyes used in works of art were characterized by microspectrofluorimetry, a new tool in the field of cultural heritage. Emission and excitation spectra were obtained with high spatial resolution (8-30 μm) in cross-sections from paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Lucien Pissarro and from millenary Andean textiles. The fluorophores were identified by comparing their spectra with those from historic reconstructions assembled in a database. In the paints, purpurin and eosin lakes were detected. In the Paracas and Nasca textiles, dated from 200 B.C. to A.D.1476, purpurin and pseudopurpurin were the red dyes used. Carminic acid was detected in textiles dated close to the Inca Empire, A.D. 1000-1476. The results obtained with this new technique were confirmed and are in agreement with those obtained with conventional methods, requiring microsampling, such as HPLC-DAD-MS and SEM-EDX.
AB - Red lake pigments and dyes used in works of art were characterized by microspectrofluorimetry, a new tool in the field of cultural heritage. Emission and excitation spectra were obtained with high spatial resolution (8-30 μm) in cross-sections from paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Lucien Pissarro and from millenary Andean textiles. The fluorophores were identified by comparing their spectra with those from historic reconstructions assembled in a database. In the paints, purpurin and eosin lakes were detected. In the Paracas and Nasca textiles, dated from 200 B.C. to A.D.1476, purpurin and pseudopurpurin were the red dyes used. Carminic acid was detected in textiles dated close to the Inca Empire, A.D. 1000-1476. The results obtained with this new technique were confirmed and are in agreement with those obtained with conventional methods, requiring microsampling, such as HPLC-DAD-MS and SEM-EDX.
KW - Andean textiles
KW - Impressionism
KW - Microfluorescence spectroscopy
KW - Red lakes
KW - Vincent van Gogh
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=76449104424&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.culher.2009.03.006
DO - 10.1016/j.culher.2009.03.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:76449104424
SN - 1296-2074
VL - 11
SP - 27
EP - 34
JO - Journal of Cultural Heritage
JF - Journal of Cultural Heritage
IS - 1
ER -