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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters
Published on: June 18, 2021
Murillo's paintings revealed by spectroscopic techniques and dedicated laboratory-made micro X-ray diffraction
A Duran1, M B Siguenza, M L Franquelo
1Materials Science Institute of Seville, Avda Americo Vespucio 49, 41092 Seville, Spain. adrian@icmse.csic.es
Abstract:
This paper describes one of the first case studies using micro-diffraction laboratory-made systems to analyse painting cross-sections. Pigments, such as lead white, vermilion, red ochre, red lac, lapis lazuli, smalt, lead tin yellow type I, massicot, ivory black, lamp black and malachite, were detected in cross-sections prepared from six Bartolomé Esteban Murillo paintings by micro-Raman and micro-XRD combined with complementary techniques (optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, and FT-IR). The use of micro-XRD was necessary due to the poor results obtained with conventional XRD. In some cases, pigment identification was only possible by combining results from the different analytical techniques utilised in this study.
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