While the reason behind Mona Lisa's smile
may remain a mystery, the synchrotron can
reveal other secrets about artwork's
composition and authenticity.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Many have wondered and will no doubt still about what's behind that wry smile of the Mona Lisa? Is she happy, is she pensive? Da Vinci is probably the only one who can answer that question. While discovering the emotion behind the smile might be impossible, today's scientists are helping to reveal other hidden secrets of how an artist creates a masterpiece.
Associate Professor Robyn Sloggett, Director of the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne is heading a large project examining the movement of 20th century art materials and techniques from Europe, across to Asia and Australia.
The research team is using the Australian Synchrotron to examine new media, pigments, dyes and additives that led to the creation of revolutionary works of art in the 20th century in both Australia and South-East Asia.
"The benefits of using the synchrotron over more traditional benchtop infrared x-ray are that the synchrotron beam is more focused, much faster and gives much clearer detail of a sample. It also requires less material which is important when it comes to artworks," said Robyn.
"Synchrotron analysis provides information for conservation and restoration efforts and also on the artist's techniques which will help with the restoration of artworks. We needed to understand how the artist applied each layer of paint and then whether there were resinous layers and dirt layers that might be affecting the stability of the paint.
"Little has been understood about the materials used by Australian and South-East Asian artists and you would expect these materials to react differently from ones used by European artists because they were sourced from local materials or have been affected by very different climates from those found in Europe and North America.
"We examined a paint sample from the Provincial Hotel in Fitzroy to test the methodology of using the synchrotron. It comprises a number of distinct layers and we have analysed these already using a number of different techniques so it is a good standard sample for us," she said.
"We have also examined a deteriorating 1924 portrait of Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer by W.B. McInnes from the University of Melbourne Collection. Cross-sections of paint were taken to analyse the way the artist constructed the painting, to identify the presence of glazing layers and resinous layers and to give some indication of the pigments used by the artist.
"This sort of work is also very important in the Indigenous art sector and can help with establishing verifiable links back to the artist. We are interested in investigating the use of different resins and mediums in Indigenous communities from the time PVAs became common (early 1960s) and also to characterise traditional resin use. Artists such as Rover Thomas used a range of mediums and PVA started to be used in Arnhem Land in the 1970s."
They also worked on a paint sample from the National Gallery of Malaysia. This painting is being used as part of an investigation into possible modifications of materials by artists in Asia, particularly during the Second World War when Western materials from Europe may have been difficult to access.
"Conservators need to know their art history to establish authenticity and increasingly they also need scientific knowledge," Robyn said.
"The information gleaned will also help in the development of the best methods of restoring deteriorating paintings and the ways they should be stored."
When the team use the synchrotron they are locked in for 48 hours from an early Friday morning start to Sunday morning. The synchrotron is so large it takes about 10 minutes to walk its perimeter.
The project also uses an Optiportal which has a 96 megapixel display which allows the user to view a number of images simultaneously and to visualise images in 3D by using 24 ultra-high definition computer monitors and 13 high-powered computers which are linked so one large, combined image can be seen across all the screens.
"This technology means we can now beam high resolution artworks and samples from the synchrotron in real time across to other partners in Australia and overseas so we can view the same data simultaneously," said Robyn.
The research project brings together expertise from across the University of Melbourne, Australia and internationally, especially focusing on the Asia- Pacific region and involves scientists, curators, conservators, art historians and artists from 12 public institutions and six universities on four continents.
Editor's Note: Article first published in ANSTO's monthly newsletter, Velocity - science in motion. For permission to reproduce this article please contact ANSTO. Velocity can be subscribed to free of charge here.
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