Use of Imaging Spectroscopy and in situ Analytical Methods for the Characterization of the Materials and Techniques of 15th Century Illuminated Manuscripts

• DOI: 10.1179/0197136012z.0000000004
• Publication Date: 2013-04-12T10:00:16Z
• Authors: Paola Ricciardi; John K. Delaney; Michelle Facini; Lisha Glinsman
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

AbstractThis study combines site-specific in situ analytical techniques with non-site-specific reflectance imaging spectroscopy and multispectral infrared reflectography to characterize pigments and underdrawing materials in fragile, light-sensitive illuminated manuscripts. In situ methods implemented in this study included fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence, as well as multispectral visible and near-infrared reflectance imaging spectroscopy and multispectral infrared reflectography. Imaging spectroscopy was used to map areas having similar diffuse reflectance spectra, and the site-specific methods were used to further identify the primary pigments present. This combined approach was used to examine an illumination by Lorenzo Monaco (ca. 1370–1422 or after) and his workshop on the Praying Prophet, in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (NGA), from an early-15th-century gradual on parchment (codex H74) currently at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Flo...