infocus #3 September 2006 Raman Microscopy Techniques for the Characterisation of Pigments

Here we will introduce the science on which Raman microscopy is based, the instrumentation currently in use, and recent applications of the technique to solving problems in the artworld.

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.12

Characterisation of the pigments on works of art and archaeological materials can be critical in finding solutions to problems in restoration, conservation, authentication and dating, and many techniques have been developed for this purpose. Over the past decade or so Raman microscopy has emerged in response to recent advances in optics and detectors, as one of the best of these techniques, on account of its high spatial (c. 1 micrometre) and high spectral (c. 1 cm-1) resolution, together with its specificity, sensitivity (via CCD detectors) and the fact that many items may be examined in situ. The Raman effect will be discussed, together with the recent advances in instrumentation, and examples of items of high interest which have been studied recently, including Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, several Gutenberg Bibles, a series of medieval maps, postage stamps and a painting by Vermeer, as well as several items found to be forgeries, notably Egyptian papyri, maps and other philatelic materials.

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Authors

Tracey D Chaplin

Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, UCL

Dr Tracey Chaplin is an honorary research fellow in the Department of Chemistry at UCL. Having been awarded a PhD in geology (1998, UCL), which involved the theoretical and practical application of Raman spectroscopy to geological materials, Chaplin has since applied this knowledge to the study of artists’ pigments. Chaplin is also an independent scientific consultant specialising in the analysis of painted surfaces and is employed part-time as a lecturer in conservation science at the London Metropolitan University.

Robin J H Clark

Robin Clark is the Sir William Ramsay Professor and the former Head of Chemistry and Dean of Science at UCL. His research focused on inorganic chemistry, spectroscopy and the development of Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy into powerful structural tools. He later pioneered the application of Raman microscopy to the characterisation of pigments on artwork and archaeological objects. His work is embodied in c. 500 scientific papers, 3 books and 36 edited books, and he has acted as visiting professor to 13 universities and lectured in over 350 institutions in 35 countries. He was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 for services to Science.