view . fall 2014
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Opposite:RomanMaevandDmitryGavrilovposewith their thermographic
analysis equipment at the Institute forDiagnostic ImagingResearch.
Walk into theLouvre, take aflashphotoof theMonaLisa
and, chances are, you’ll bepromptly escortedout by some
rather unhappy security guards
. Besides obvious copyright
and security concerns,museum curators take a dim viewof light
fromflashbulbs hitting the priceless artworks forwhich they’re
responsible.
SoRomanMaev andDmitryGavrilovPhD ’14weren’t surprised
when their suggestion toblast paintingswith an intense pulse
of light as part of amethod todetermine their condition and
authenticitywasmetwith some initial resistance.
“They thoughtwewere crazy,” admitsDr.Maev, University
of Windsor physicist anddirector of the Institute forDiagnostic
ImagingResearch.
Thermography, however, is graduallybeing embraced as a
methodof both authenticatingworks of art andhelping curators
better understandwhat’s required topreserve them.Maev and
Gavrilov are paving theway for its acceptance.
Amethodof non-destructive evaluation, thermography canbe
used to analyze the properties, structure and conditionof a painting
by studying its temperature dynamics. In various other forms, it’s
used for everything frommedical diagnostic imaging to thermal
mapping for detectingheat loss inbuildings.
ForMaev andGavrilov’s purposes, it involves sending a rapid
pulse of lightwith anoptical flash that slightly raises the surface
temperature of their subject. A thermal camera takes a series of
snapshots, capturing the temperature at each interval. The pattern
of how the surface cools revealswhat’s underneath.
The process candetect defects, variousweave patterns in
canvas, and, in some cases, reveal alterations thatmayhave been
made to a paintingover time.
Besides better understanding levels of degradation, itmayalso
helpexperts to reveal forgeries, a$6-billionper year trade, according
to theFBI. In fact, it’s the thirdmost lucrative crime in theworldafter
drug traffickingand the illegalweapons trade, saysMaev.
Naturally,museum curators expressed apprehensionwhen told
how the processworks. But in fact, exposuremaybe hundreds of
times less than the regular light that a painting is exposed toduring
the course of a day, according to an article they recentlypublished
in the “Canadian Journal of Physics”.
“Touching thepaintingwithyour finger actually raises the
temperatureof thepaintingmore than this process does,” says
Gavrilov.
So far, the researchers have employed the process at the
FitzwilliamMuseum at theUniversityof Cambridge and inMoscow
at thePushkinStateMuseumof FineArts.
InCambridge, they analyzed a series of sevenpaintings
calledTriumphof theEucharist byP.P. Rubens. Their goal was to
determinewhether the individual panelswere paintedon separate
woodplates or if theywere paintedonone large panel thatwas
cut intopieces after the fact. Their analysis revealed that three of
the panels had similarwood grain structure, while other panels had
entirelydifferentwood grain.
The team journeyed to theNational Galleryof London towork
ona collaborative international Rembrandt project this past summer.
Thermography, however, isn’t the onlyhigh-techprocess used
by the team, which also includesDarryl Almond, a professor at the
Universityof Bath. Infrared imaging, spectroscopy, UVfluorescence
analysis and acousticmicroscopy are among the other innovative
techniques used to conduct pre-restoration analysis of works of art.
“It’s breakthrough technology,” saysMaev. “As physicists, this is
fascinating for us.”
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PAINTINGA
HIGH-TECHPICTURE
RESEARCH
BYSTEPHENFIELDS
Dr. RomanMaev
