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Terahertz Time-Domain Imaging to Guide a Conservation Intervention on a Stratified Easel Painting

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Abstract

Very few real easel paintings have been scanned by means of terahertz time-domain imaging (THz-TDI) up to now. In this study, four different areas of an eighteenth century easel painting have been scanned by THz-TDI with the aim of proving useful information to the conservators for its imminent restoration treatment, owing to the complexity of its structure. Despite the unevenness of the layers composing the painting (lining canvas, original canvas, patching materials, and paint layers), the recorded THz dataset has been processed so that the THz images of the single layers composing the multilayered object have been clearly obtained. Relevant information about the painting structure, the presence of structural defects, overpainting, and the existence and extension of the original remains could have been determined. Infrared photography and X-ray radiography have been used for integrating the collected THz data and comparing the different outputs.

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Funding

This study received financial support from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT (grant numbers 255114, 252939, and 280391). Corinna L. Koch Dandolo received financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant SNSF, P2SKP2_16321 / 1).

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Author notes

  1. Corinna L. Koch Dandolo

    Present address: C2RMF, Palais du Louvre - Porte des Lions 14, quai François Mitterrand, 75001, Paris, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C., Loma del Bosque 115, Lomas del Campestre, 37150, León, Guanajuato, Mexico

    Corinna L. Koch Dandolo, Arturo Ignacio Hernández-Serrano & Enrique Castro-Camus

  2. Escuela de Conservación y Restauración de Occidente, Analco No. 285, Barrio de Analco, 44450, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

    Gilda María Pasco Saldaña, Monserrat Alma Gómez Sepúlveda, Joselyn Alvarado Calderón, Melba Samara Calderón Zárate, Karen Luna González, Eunice Corazón Peralta de Dios & Gerardo Hernández Rosales

  3. El Colegio de Michoacán. Cerro de Nahuatzen 85, Fracc, Jardines del Cerro Grande, 59370, La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico

    Mirta Asunción Insaurralde Caballero & Alejandro Mesa Orozco

Authors
  1. Corinna L. Koch Dandolo
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  2. Gilda María Pasco Saldaña
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  12. Enrique Castro-Camus
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corinna L. Koch Dandolo.

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Koch Dandolo, C.L., Pasco Saldaña, G.M., Insaurralde Caballero, M.A. et al. Terahertz Time-Domain Imaging to Guide a Conservation Intervention on a Stratified Easel Painting. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 39, 773–784 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-018-0505-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-018-0505-3

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