Short Description
The question of the nature of colour and the effect of materials on the viewers of works of art has preoccupied artists from antiquity to the present day and has led them to address these questions in their works of art. Knowledge of the colour theories of painters is an essential key to understanding many works of art in their time. The analysis of the material itself, its chemical composition, its specific ageing properties, and increasingly also the health effects during artistic work are the essential basis for the preservation of historical and contemporary works of art in terms of their storage or conservation-restoration measures. The chemical characterisation of materials - pigments, binders, painting supports, fixation and many more - is often necessary for the correct chronological classification of objects through to the proof of authenticity and verification of the provenance of a work of art.
Contact Person
Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Biol. Dr. Katja Sterflinger
Research Services
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Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
- TIDAS MSP400 microscope spectrometer (J&M Analytik AG, Germany)
- Optical fiber coupling to Axioplan 2 microscope for reflection and transmission measurement of micro samples (Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Germany)
- Fiber optic probe for reflection measurements. Designed and built at the Institute of Science and Technology in Art.
- SpectroEye handheld spectrophotometer for color measurements (X-Rite GmbH, Switzerland)