Vis-NIR Hyperspectral and Terahertz Imaging Investigations on a Fresco Painting on “Tavella” by Alessandro Gherardini

Doria, A.; Gallerano, G.P.; Giovenale, E.; Casini, Andrea; Cucci, Costanza; Picollo, Marcello; Poggesi, Marco; Stefani, Lorenzo De; Fukunaga, Kaori; Tamassia, Marilena

doi:10.1007/s10762-017-0357-2

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…With the use of this new device, a fresco painting on tavella (51 cm × 37 cm) depicting St. John Baptist by Alessandro Gherardini (1655-1726) was analyzed at the Restoration Laboratories of the former "Polo Museale della Toscana", in Florence (Figure 16) [43]. The fresco of St. John the Baptist's head belongs to the permanent collection of the Florentine San Marco Museum (inv.…”

Section: The Realization Of a Portable Imaging Devicementioning

confidence: 99%

An Alternative Phase-Sensitive THz Imaging Technique for Art Conservation: History and New Developments at the ENEA Center of Frascati

et al. 2020

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In recent years, THz imaging techniques have been used in several fields of application. At the beginning of the century, the low availability of powerful THz sources was one of the limiting factors to the advancement of THz technology. At the ENEA center in Frascati, two Free Electron Lasers (FELs) operating in the THz spectral region were available at that time, making it possible to exploit all the features of THz imaging. In this paper, we will describe an alternative THz imaging technique, developed over 15 years of studies at the ENEA center of Frascati, and its application in the art conservation field, reporting the latest results of such studies on the optical properties of pigments in the GHz-THz region of the spectrum, on the possibility of detecting biological weeds under mosaic tiles and on the THz analysis of ancient leather wallpapers. This alternative technique was first developed in the framework of a bilateral collaboration between Japan and Italy, the THz-ARTE Project, which involved NICT (Tokyo), NNRICP (Nara), ENEA (Frascati) and IFAC-CNR (Florence). Most of the THz imaging techniques at that time were based on THz-Time Domain (THz-TD) devices. In the paper will be described how this alternative technique is able to measure the phase of the reflected radiation, thus providing information on the optical properties of the materials under study, such as mural paintings and mosaics. This makes it possible to detect the presence of hidden artworks, additional elements under paint layers, and dielectric materials. To describe the potential and the limits of this alternative imaging technique we will start from a description, in chapter 2, of the first THz imaging setup at the ENEA center of Frascati, based upon a THz Free Electron Laser. A description of the theoretical principle underlying this technique will be given in chapter 3. The first results in the field of art conservation are summarized in chapter 4, while the new results of a systematic study on the optical properties of pigments are reported in chapter 5. In chapter 6 the realization of a portable THz imaging device, and its application “on site” for the analysis of frescoes are shown. The success of this prototype lead to the identification of different types of artworks as possible targets to be studied. New results about the ability of detecting water, and possibly the water content of biological weeds, under mosaic tiles are described in chapter 7, while new experimental measurements on Leather Wallpapers, both “in situ” and in a laboratory environment, are discussed in chapter 8. A final analysis on the pro and the cons of this alternative imaging technique and on its possible utilization with the developed prototype is carried out in chapter 9, together with the considerations on possible future developments and its potential use as an extension of other imaging techniques.

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Section: The Realization Of a Portable Imaging Devicementioning

confidence: 99%

An Alternative Phase-Sensitive THz Imaging Technique for Art Conservation: History and New Developments at the ENEA Center of Frascati

et al. 2020

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“…It is of great significance for the protection, restoration and research of murals to analyse the pigment composition, line characteristics, painting skills and pattern contents of murals. In recent years, with the miniaturization and convenience of the instrument, hyperspectral technology has been widely used in the field of cultural relic protection [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Hyperspectral technology can provide a scientific basis for the identification of cultural relic materials and ages [7][8][9][10], deeply and intuitively reflect the pigment information in cultural relics [11][12][13][14][15][16][17], enhance and mine hidden information [18][19][20][21][22][23][24], and restore mural images and patterns [25][26][27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of hyperspectral imaging technology to digitally protect murals in the Qutan temple

Gao

Cao

et al. 2023

Herit Sci

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Hyperspectral imaging technology is a research hotspot in the field of cultural heritage protection. It can be used to quickly and noninvasively obtain detailed spectral information from the surfaces of cultural relics of different categories. We can intuitively analyse pigment compositions, line characteristics, painting skills and patterns using spectral information. Hyperspectral imaging has high scientific significance and application value for the protection, restoration and research of ancient murals and other cultural relics. In this study, a mural from Daheitian hall in the Qutan temple, Qinghai Province, China, was used as a sample. The hyperspectral data were acquired and analysed for several purposes. Pigment spectral matching and abundance inversion were carried out to obtain the pigment distribution. These data were enhanced by continuum removal and histogram stretching to obtain hidden information. The dark channel prior, Criminisi and Retinex methods were used to virtually restore the image of the mural. The results indicated that by using hyperspectral imaging data, the constructed pure pigment spectrum library and suitable approaches, the types and distributions of mural pigments can be quantitatively analysed, and the lines in murals can be extracted. Hyperspectral images are helpful for identifying information hidden by pigments or surface materials. Mural images can be enhanced, and hidden information can be highlighted using enhancement methods, such as continuum removal and histogram linear stretching. In addition, hyperspectral imaging data have unique advantages in the restoration of mural images, and the combination of defogging methods and image inpainting algorithms can realize the virtual restoration of mural images. In brief, hyperspectral imaging technology was found to have a highly favourable effect on pigment analysis, line extraction, information enhancement, hidden information extraction and the virtual restoration of ancient murals.

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“…The first study was carried out by Koch et al, on wood dendrochronology [36]. Later, Fukunaga et al investigated different types of artworks [20,25,37] and, at present, THz surveys of wall, canvas, and panel paintings are quite common [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. In addition, THz-TDI was exploited to investigate maiolica tiles and their multilayer structure in [55].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Invasive Characterization of Maiolica Layer Structure by Terahertz Time-Domain Imaging

Manca,

Chiarantini,

Tartaglia

et al. 2023

Coatings

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The characterization of the layered structure is of paramount importance for the study of maiolica wares (tin-glazed pottery). This paper presents the potentialities of Terahertz Time-Domain Imaging (THz-TDI) as a tool to perform non-invasive stratigraphic analysis of the maiolica objects under test. Samples with different types of stratigraphy, as testified by preliminary SEM-EDS analysis, were investigated by THz-TDI in laboratory conditions. The collected THz data were processed by means of noise filtering procedures and a time-of-flight-based imaging approach and the achieved results corroborate the ability to identify glaze layers, whose electromagnetic properties, i.e., the refraction index and the dielectric permittivity value, were estimated by taking into account both THz-TDI and SEM-EDS data. However, layers applied over the white glaze (namely, a transparent overglaze and a luster decoration) were not detected, probably since their thickness is below the range resolution of the adopted THz-TDI system. Morphological features hidden under the surface were also identified and they provided information about the manufacturing technique.

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Vis-NIR Hyperspectral and Terahertz Imaging Investigations on a Fresco Painting on “Tavella” by Alessandro Gherardini

Cited by 13 publications

References 14 publications

An Alternative Phase-Sensitive THz Imaging Technique for Art Conservation: History and New Developments at the ENEA Center of Frascati

An Alternative Phase-Sensitive THz Imaging Technique for Art Conservation: History and New Developments at the ENEA Center of Frascati

Application of hyperspectral imaging technology to digitally protect murals in the Qutan temple

Non-Invasive Characterization of Maiolica Layer Structure by Terahertz Time-Domain Imaging

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