Identification of Pigments in Colored Layers of a Painting by Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Using the method of Raman spectroscopy the pigment composition is investigated of, and the brushwork technique used in, the original layer of a 19th century painting is established. It is an overdoor worked, presumably, by Antoine Jean-Etienne Faivre. It is established that the artist used the following pigments: cinnabar and dyes on the basis of goethite and hematite (for red, yellow–orange, and brown shades), ultramarine and Prussian blue (for blue shades), and Emerald green and a mixture of blue and yellow shades (to obtain a green color). It is determined that white lead was used a primer.