New Research on the History and Technology of Materials in Paintings and other Cultural Heritage Artefacts using Advanced Mass Spectrometry Techniques

对绘画和其他艺术品的学术研究涉及研究艺术家的创作过程，所使用的材料和技术的性质以及自然退化造成的物体的现状。这些研究极大地得益于化学分析，即从人工制品中取出少量油漆样品，以便根据上述因素评估化学性质。有机成分特别令人感兴趣，可以包括各种天然产品，如：油，蜡，树脂和蛋白质，所有这些都有可能深刻影响作品的外观，其当前状况和保护处理的规划。这些有机材料可以是原始成分，例如油漆成分（粘合剂、着色剂或其他添加剂）或后期添加物（例如修复或修饰、清漆或其他表面涂层）。从有价值的艺术作品中提取的油漆样本通常非常小，数量有限，因此必须提取尽可能多的信息。有机成分的化学分析具有挑战性，原因如下：（i）材料本身的复杂性，这通常需要检测特征性“标记成分”以识别材料（或获得准确的来源或物种信息或确切的生产方法）;（ii）所关注的有机材料通常是整个油漆样品中相当少的组分，以及（iii）样品的异质性和人工制品的年龄，这通常会通过复杂的降解过程导致有机材料的改变。因此，要从最少量的油漆中获得最大量的化学信息，使用高灵敏度和特异性的分析技术是很重要的。高分辨率质谱比传统科学家通常使用的现有仪器具有显著的优势。该奖学金汇集了来自布里斯托大学和国家美术馆的研究人员，并将使用这些新技术探索与以下有关的问题：（i）特定有机材料的检测;（ii）有机材料的生物（或地质）来源的识别;（iii）有机材料的状态（无论是油漆的原始添加剂还是后来保护措施的污染物）。实现这一目标将涉及使用从国家美术馆科学部门收藏的大量天然产品中选择的参考样品，根据先进仪器改进分析方案。然后，将利用从正在进行的艺术史研究或国家美术馆收藏的绘画保护项目中选出的真实案例研究，将制定的分析协议应用于文化遗产部门的真实的问题。

The scholarly study of paintings and other artworks involves research into an artist's creative processes, the nature of the materials and techniques used and the current condition of objects resulting from natural deterioration. Such studies benefit enormously from chemical analysis, wherein small samples of paint are physically removed from artefacts in order that the chemistry can be assessed in relation to the aforementioned factors. The organic components are of particular interest and can include a wide range of natural products, such as: oils, waxes, resins and proteins, all of which have the potential to profoundly influence the appearance of a work, its current condition and the planning of conservation treatments. These organic materials can be original components, such as paint constituents (binder, colorant or other additives) or later additions (e.g. repairs or retouchings, varnishes or other surface coatings). The paint samples taken from valuable works of art are typically very small and limited in number, so it is essential to extract as much information as possible. The chemical analysis of organic components is challenging for a number of reasons: (i) The complexity of the materials themselves, which often necessitates the detection of characteristic 'marker components' to identify the material (or obtain precise source or species information or the exact methods of production); (ii) The organic material(s) of interest will generally be quite minor components of the overall paint sample, and (iii) The heterogeneous nature of the samples and age of the artefact, which can often lead to the alteration of the organic materials via complex degradation processes. Hence, to obtain the maximum amount of chemical information from the minimum amount of paint it is important to use highly sensitive & specific analytical techniques.High resolution mass spectrometry offers substantial advantages over the current instrumentation typically used by heritage scientists. The studentship brings together researchers from the University of Bristol and the National Gallery and will use these new technologies to explore question relating to: (i) The detection of specific organic materials; (ii)The identification of the biological (or geological) source of organic materials; (iii)The status of organic materials (whether original additives to the paint or contaminants from a later conservation intervention). Achieving this will involve refining analytical protocols based on advanced instrumentation using reference samples selected from the extensive collection of natural products held within the National Gallery scientific department. The analytical protocols developed will then be applied to real problems within the cultural heritage sector using authentic case studies, selected from on-going projects in the art-historical study or conservation of paintings from the National Gallery collection.