Electrochemical identification of painters/workshops: The case of Valencian Renaissance-Baroque painters (ca. 1550- ca. 1670)

Abstract

[EN] The voltammetry of immobilized particles (VIMP) methodology was applied to discriminate the oil painting production of a series of seven painters/workshops that worked in Valencia (Spain) between ca. 1530 and ca. 1650. When submicrosamples used for cross-section FESEM/EDX analysis were attached to graphite electrodes in contact with aqueous acetate buffer, well-defined responses were obtained. The reductive processes of lead pigments (lead white and lead-tin yellow) overlapped those associated to the lead soaps and other species resulting from the pigment-oil binder interaction in the sample. Such responses, which are theoretically modeled, were sensitive to changes in paint type and dose and thus provided a painter/workshop-characteristic voltammetric response defining a usable electrochemical fingerprint for authorship assessments. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.