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Casting Light on the Darkening of Colors in Historical Paintings

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Da Pieve, Fabiana [UCL] Hogan, C. Lamoen, D. Verbeeck, J. Vanmeert, F. Gonze, Xavier [UCL] Van Tendeloo, G. [UCL]

The degradation of colors in historical paintings affects our cultural heritage in both museums and archeological sites. Despite intensive experimental studies, the origin of darkening of one of the most ancient pigments known to humankind, vermilion (-HgS), remains unexplained. Here, by combining many-body theoretical spectroscopy and high-resolution microscopic x-ray diffraction, we clarify the composition of the damaged paint work and demonstrate possible physicochemical processes, induced by illumination and exposure to humidity and air, that cause photoactivation of the original pigment and the degradation of the secondary minerals. The results suggest a new path for the darkening process which was never considered by previous studies and prompt a critical examination of their findings.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2013
Language Anglais
Journal information "Physical Review Letters" - Vol. 111, p. 208302 1-5 (2013)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher American Physical Society ((United States) [S.l.])
issn 0031-9007
e-issn 1079-7114
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SST/IMCN/NAPS - Nanoscopic Physics
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Bibliographic reference Da Pieve, Fabiana ; Hogan, C. ; Lamoen, D. ; Verbeeck, J. ; Vanmeert, F. ; et. al. Casting Light on the Darkening of Colors in Historical Paintings. In: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, p. 208302 1-5 (2013)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/136695