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New insights into the painting stratigraphy of L’Homme blessé by Gustave Courbet combining scanning macro-XRF and confocal micro-XRF

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Abstract

The painting L’Homme blessé by Gustave Courbet kept at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris has been recently studied by X-ray radiography, SEM–EDX observation of paint cross sections and confocal micro-X-ray fluorescence analyses (CXRF) at locations where the cross section samples were taken. This study allowed the establishment of the paint palette used by Courbet for the three paint compositions. Eight or more paint layers could be evidenced. In the view of the complexity of this painting, further analyses using two-dimensional scanning macro-X-ray fluorescence imaging (MA-XRF) providing chemical images corresponding to the superimposition of all detectable paint layers were employed. This method is combined with CXRF for depth-resolved paint layer analysis. Large elemental maps of Hg, Cu, As, Fe, Zn, Cr, Ba, Pb and Ca were obtained by MA-XRF on the painting and are discussed in combination with depth profiles obtained by CXRF on strategic points where three painting compositions overlap. The order of three successive compositions of this painting were determined in this study. This work also highlights the benefits of using complementary imaging methods to obtain a complete three-dimensional vision of the chemistry and stratigraphy of paintings.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Musée d’Orsay and especially Isolde Pludermacher and Xavier Rey for having provided the painting for this study. X-ray radiograph was performed by Elsa Lambert and the photograph by Jean-Louis Bellec, C2RMF, Paris. We thank Dr. Michel Menu for graciously hosting E.M. in the laboratory of the C2RMF.

Author contributions

The manuscript was written through contributions of I.R., M.E., K.M. and T.C. All authors have contributed to the data acquisition. These authors contributed equally.

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Author notes

  1. Ina Reiche

    Present address: Rathgen-Forschungslabor, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne Universités, Univ. Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8220, Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, Paris, France

    Ina Reiche & Katharina Müller

  2. Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), 75001, Paris, France

    Myriam Eveno, Thomas Calligaro, Laurent Pichon, Eric Laval, Erin Mysak & Bruno Mottin

  3. Chimie ParisTech-CNRS, Institut de Recherche Chimie Paris, PSL Research University, UMR8247, Paris, France

    Thomas Calligaro

  4. Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Erin Mysak

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  1. Ina Reiche
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  2. Myriam Eveno
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Correspondence to Ina Reiche.

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Reiche, I., Eveno, M., Müller, K. et al. New insights into the painting stratigraphy of L’Homme blessé by Gustave Courbet combining scanning macro-XRF and confocal micro-XRF. Appl. Phys. A 122, 947 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0457-1

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