Neutron-induced autoradiography in the study of oil paintings by Tintoretto, Marieschi and Bellotto
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Neutron-induced autoradiography in the study of oil paintings by Tintoretto, Marieschi and Bellotto E. Pańczyk1, M. Ligęza , K.Pytel2, A.Kalicki1, L. Rowińska1, B.Sartowska1, L.Waliś1 1 Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Dorodna 16, 03-195Warsaw, Poland 2 Institute of Atomic Energy, Świerk/Warsaw, Poland ABSTRACT A complex technological investigation of 14th-18th centuries Venetian paintings from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw has been performed in connection with the “Serenissima- Light of Venice”exhibition. After analysis of the X-ray radiographs of the paintings, several of them had a complex structure which justified the use of neutron-induced autoradiography to obtain indisputable information about over-painting (Tintoretto) or either confirmation or contradiction of their authenticity (Marieschi, Bellotto). All the paintings under analysis were irradiated in a specially designed station at the research reactor MARIA in Swierk near Warsaw. Beta-rays emerging from the painting surface irradiated by thermal neutrons and recorded on a X-ray film displayed the distribution of elements in pigments used for creating individual layers of the painting. It allows for tracing the particular phases of the painting structure invisible to the naked eye. The report presents results obtained for the following paintings: J. Tintoretto – Portrait of a Venetian Admiral, M. Marieschi – The palace of Doges in Venice, B. Bellotto called Canaletto – Fantasy architecture with self-portrait of the artist. INTRODUCTION Complex technological studies related to Venetian paintings coming from the 14th-18th centuries and constituting a part of the collection of the national Museum in Warsaw were undertaken in connection with the preparation of the exhibition entitled “Serenissima – The light of Venice. Art objects by Venetian Masters of 14th-18th centuries in the Light of New Technological and Historic Research as well as Preservation Studies”[1]. Based on obtained X-ray results a few paintings were selected, whose complex structure justified the use of a special technique of layer analysis, namely thermal neutron-induced autoradiography. Neutron autoradiogarphy was used for the first time in the Brookhaven National Laboratory [2] and later also in Hahn -Meithner Institut in Berlin [3]. The technique consists in irradiating a given painting with a beam of thermal neutrons in a nuclear reactor and as a result of this process the elements in the constituent pigments are transformed into radioisotopes emitting beta and gamma radiation. Registration of such radiation takes place after the completion of irradiation. The radiation detector is an uncovered X-ray film applied directly to the painting surface. Blackening of the X-ray film depends on the exposure time and nuclear parameters of the isotopes of radioactive elements occurring in the pigments of painting layers. EXPERIMENT In the classical neutron autoradiography method paintings are irradiated by means of a beam of thermal neutrons from the so-call
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