Pigment identification in pictorial layers by HyperSpectral Imaging

The use of Hyper-Spectral Imaging (HSI) as a diagnostic tool in the field of cultural heritage is of great interest presenting high potentialities. This analysis, in fact, is non-destructive, non-invasive and portable. Furthermore, the possibility to couple hyperspectral data with chemometric techniques allows getting qualitative and/or quantitative information on the nature and physical-chemical characteristics of the investigated materials. A study was carried out to explore the possibilities offered by this approach to identify pigments in paintings. More in detail, six pigments have been selected and they have been then mixed with four different binders and applied to a wood support. The resulting reference samples were acquired by HSI in the SWIR wavelength range (1000-2500 nm). Data were processed adopting a chemometric approach based on the PLS-Toolbox (Eigenvector Research, Inc.) running inside Matlab® (The Mathworks, Inc.). The aim of the study was to verify, according to the information acquired in the investigated wavelength region, the correlation existing between collected spectral signatures and sample characteristics related to the different selected pigments and binders. Results were very good showing as correlations exist. New scenarios can thus be envisaged for analysis, characterization, conservation and restoration of paintings, considering that the developed approach allows to obtain, just "in one shot", information, not only on the type of pigment, but also on the utilized binder and support.