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Macroscopic x‐ray fluorescence imaging spectroscopy (MA‐XRF) and reflectance imaging spectroscopy (RIS) are important tools in the analysis of cultural heritage objects, both for conservation and art historical research purposes. The elemental and molecular distributions provided by MA‐XRF and RIS respectively, are particularly useful for the identification and mapping of pigments in easel paintings. While MA‐XRF has relatively established data processing methods based on modeling of the underlying physics, RIS data cannot be modeled with sufficient precision and its processing has considerable room for improvements. This work seeks to improve RIS data processing workflows in the short wavelength infrared range (SWIR, 1000–2500 nm) with a novel method that fits Gaussian profiles to pigment‐specific absorption features, and we compare its performance to MA‐XRF for the task of semi‐quantitative pigment mapping, evaluating their limits of detection (LODs) and the matrix effects that affect their signals. Two pigments are considered in this work, lead white and blue verditer, which are mapped in SWIR RIS using the first overtone of OH stretching of their primary compounds, hydrocerussite (Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2) and azurite (Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2), at 1447 and 1497 nm respectively, and in MA‐XRF using the Pb‐L and Cu‐K fluorescence signals. The methods are evaluated using two sets of custom‐prepared paint samples, as well as a 16th‐century painting, discussing the identification, mapping, and semi‐quantitative analysis of the considered pigments. We found SWIR RIS to be a pigment‐specific method with a longer linear range but inferior LODs and penetration depth when compared to MA‐XRF, the latter is often not capable of discriminating between different pigments with identical elemental markers. We furthermore present a novel color scale that allows the simultaneous visualization of signals above and below a confidence limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work introduces a novel method to multivariate analysis applied to fused hyperspectral datasets in the field of Cultural Heritage (CH). Hyperspectral Imaging is a well-established approach for the non-invasive examination of artworks, offering insights into their composition and conservation status. In CH field, a combination of hyperspectral techniques is usually employed to reach a comprehensive understanding of the artwork. To deal with hyperspectral data, multivariate statistical methods are essential due to the complexity of the data. The process involves factorizing the data matrix to highlight components and reduce dimensionality, with techniques such as Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) gaining prominence. To maximize the synergies between multimodal datasets, the fusion of hyperspectral datasets can be coupled with multivariate analysis, with potential applications in CH. In this work, I will show examples of this approach with different combinations of datasets, including reflectance and transmittance spectral imaging, Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging and Time-Gated Hyperspectral Imaging, and Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy micro-mapping.

The nonplanar shape of a painting as well as practical constraints often result in the painting's surface not being parallel to the plane in that the measurement head of a MA‐XRF scanner is being moved. Changing the working distance affects the measurement geometry, so that the sensitivity for the same element may vary throughout the investigated area and induce visible artifacts. These artifacts are especially visible when different scans of the same painting are stitched together. In this article, we present an approach to correct for the variation of the measurement distance. We explored using an intrinsic part of the XRF data set, the Ar signal from the air, to estimate the distance between surface and instrument. The model is developed based on fundamental parameter calculations and a measurement of a NIST 610 standard and is verified on a set of scans of Rembrandt's 'Portrait of Oopjen Coppit (1611–1689)'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840), one of the most famous German 19th c. painters, created paintings throughout his artistic life using different paint palettes, including many new pigments from the turn from the 18th to the 19th century. In that regard especially blue and yellow pigments are the focus of this non‐invasive chemical study using X‐ray fluorescence imaging, as these are a landscape painter's major colours. Four paintings from the collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin‐Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, spanning over two important decades of Friedrich's artistic career, were investigated in situ to determine the chemical composition of the blue pigments used in the sky and the yellow hues used in the sunsets and moonlight. The results indicate the use of iron based yellow pigments as well as smalt based blue pigments in Friedrich's early works, while chromium‐based yellow pigments and cobalt blue are used in later paintings. The finding of cadmium sulphide in a painting dated in 1817, probably as a historical retouching, is interesting and requires further research. This in situ non‐invasive imaging study, although limited to one analytical technique, shows Friedrich's introduction of new synthetic pigments into his paint palette, which varies over the time. These results are important to better understand the painting technique of Caspar David Friedrich and his contemporaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]