Tomography of historical oil painting on wood canvas

This experiment aims to: 1) Evaluate the use of PPC-SRµCT on 17th c. painted works of art; 2) Establish the relevant level of spatial resolution for such studies; 3) Compare the obtained virtual cross-sections with microscopic SEM (BEI) images from real cross sections obtained from the same area of the painting.
The explorative tomo measurements will be undertaken on (a) a thin oak panel painted mainly with lead white and earth colour pigments (small scale copy of Rembrandt selfportrait from 1634, Louvre) and (b) a curved oak panel painted with a large pigment palette (small scale copy in the style of Anthony Van Dyck). The latter painting shows pushed up paint in some areas, creating voids between the wood panel and the paint layers. Both paintings show significant filled-up paint lacunae below the surface.