Tag Archives: Michael Wiescher

Chicanery and economics: physicists study art

It seems there’s a little tension between physicists and art historians, if this sternly worded passage from the article ‘Accelerated ion beams for art forensics‘ [open access] in the journal, Physics World, is to be believed,

The trial [a major art forgery scandal in Germany] clearly illustrates the folly—particularly in a society in which art can be a major investment—of relying entirely on art historians and others who claim that their expertise makes any scientific investigation pointless. [emphasis mine] Art experts play an important role in identifying the style, history, and context of a painting, but a solid scientific basis for the proper identification and classification of a piece of art must rely on information from other sources.

Co-authors of the article, Philippe Collon and Michael Wiescher, both at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana), as an associate professor of physics and a Frank M. Freimann Professor of Physics, respectively, describe how physicists and others use modern scientific equipment and means to uncover art fraud and to learn more about the past. From the article,

A host of approaches with origins in biology, chemistry, and physics have allowed scientists and art historians not only to look below a painting’s or artifact’s surface but also to analyze in detail the pigments used, investigate painting techniques and modifications done by the artist or by art restorers, find trace materials that reveal ages and provenances, and more. Those techniques can provide a slew of information to help substantiate or negate the authenticity of an artwork or artifact, and they also furnish information essential for careful restoration and preservation. In particular, nuclear physics has provided numerous analysis and detection techniques that involve accelerated ion beams from small to midsized accelerators such as electrostatic accelerators or cyclotrons. Key innovations include the capability to deliver well-focused particles and to identify trace elements to a very high degree of sensitivity.

The Jan. 20, 2012 news item on Nanowerk written by Marissa Gebhard provides more detail about specifics,

Laboratories in Europe, including several in Italy and one in the basement of the Louvre in Paris, have accelerators dedicated to the forensic analysis of art, and archaeological artifacts. These accelerator-based techniques have allowed not only to analyze the works themselves, but also to determine origin, trade and migration routes as well as dietary information. As an example, the analysis of the ruby eyes in a Babylonian statue of the goddess Ishtar using the Louvre’s accelerator showed that the rubies came from a mine in Vietnam, demonstrating that trade occurred between those far-apart regions some 4,000 years ago. [emphasis mine]

Both the news item and the article are fascinating. The Collon and Wiescher Jan. 2012 Physics World article examines in depth two techniques, proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS), used at Notre Dame University and elsewhere to examine artifacts. As I don’t feel competent to summarize the descriptions without advice from a subject matter expert, I suggest you read the article for more details.