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Transmission electron microscopy applied to the study of works of art: sample preparation methodology and possible techniques
Author(s) -
SAN ANDRES M.,
BAEZ M. I.,
BALDONEDO J. L.,
BARBA C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.1997.2460804.x
Subject(s) - microanalysis , characterization (materials science) , sample preparation , transmission electron microscopy , microscopy , sample (material) , thin section , materials science , single particle analysis , electron microscope , optics , computer science , mineralogy , nanotechnology , geology , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , aerosol
Technical examination of a work of art is a necessary preliminary stage both for proper conservation/restoration of the work and for purposes of dating and/or authentication. There is a wide variety of methods and procedures, and of these a particularly valuable technique is stratigraphic analysis in view of the data that it furnishes on the composition of the pictorial layers of which a painting is composed. The techniques utilized in this type of analysis to date have been essentially light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy can provide new data for characterization of pictorial layers, thanks to the possibility of individually using ultrathin sections of paint sample. This study provides morphological analysis and microanalysis by X‐ray energy dispersion, with determination of the crystalline structure of each particle by electron diffraction. The sample preparation method for producing thin sections from the pictorial layers for examination in the TEM is described. This allows the stratigraphic section to be preserved exactly as applied by the artist. The first results from the examination of three microsamples from actual old works of art are presented. The individual components of each strata were successfully identified in all cases.