Multi-scale optical coherence tomography imaging and visualization of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring

We demonstrate multi-scale multi-parameter optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging and visualization of Johannes Vermeer’s painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. Through automated acquisition, OCT image segmentation, and 3D volume stitching we realize OCT imaging at the scale of an entire painting. This makes it possible to image, with...

Comparison of three 3D scanning techniques for paintings, as applied to Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

A seventeenth-century canvas painting is usually comprised of varnish and (translucent) paint layers on a substrate. A viewer’s perception of a work of art can be affected by changes in and damages to these layers. Crack formation in the multi-layered stratigraphy of the painting is visible in the surface topology. Furthermore, the impact of...

The white of the 20th century: an explorative survey into Dutch modern art collections

White pigments were abundantly used in 20th century paintings, and relate to several degradation risks such as titanium white mediated photocatalytic binder degradation or zinc soap formation. Knowledge about the white pigments that were used is essential for risk assessments of 20th century collections. In this study, a representative set of...

Investigating the effect of artists’ paint formulation on degradation rates of TiO₂‑based oil paints

This study reports on the effect of artists’ paint formulation on degradation rates of TiO2-based oil paints. Titanium white oil paint exists in a multitude of different recipes, and the effect of the formulation on photocatalytic binder<br/>degradation kinetics is unknown. These formulations contain, among others, one or both titanium dioxide...

Simultaneous capture of the color and topography of paintings using fringe encoded stereo vision

Introduction: Paintings are versatile near-planar objects with material characteristics that vary widely. The fact that paint has a material presence is often overlooked, mostly due to the fact that we encounter many of these artworks through two dimensional reproductions. The capture of paintings in the third dimension is not only interesting...

Examination of historical paintings by state-of-the-art hyperspectral imaging methods: From scanning infra-red spectroscopy to computed X-ray laminography

The development of advanced methods for non-destructive selective imaging of painted works of art at the macroscopic level based on radiation in the X-ray and infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum are concisely reviewed. Such methods allow to either record depth-selective, element-selective or species-selective images of entire...