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Differential PIXE measurements for the stratigraphic analysis of the painting Madonna dei fusi by Leonardo da Vinci
Author(s) -
Grassi N.,
Migliori A.,
Mandò P. A.,
Calvo del Castillo H.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.821
Subject(s) - painting , art , differential (mechanical device) , art history , substrate (aquarium) , visual arts , geology , physics , oceanography , thermodynamics
Traditional PIXE does not provide information about the layered structure that is characteristic of wood and canvas paintings. In such cases, a solution to discriminate the depth sequence of elements within the analysed sample is to use differential PIXE, i.e. by measuring on the same spot with different beam energies. At the Florence accelerator, laboratory differential PIXE measurements were performed on the wood painting Madonna dei fusi (ex‐Redford version, 1501) by Leonardo da Vinci, in the framework of an extensive project aimed at discovering the ‘secrets’ of the painting and drawing techniques of the artist. The analysis allowed us to characterize the pigments and the substrate composition. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.