The goal of this research is to determine potentials and limits of UV-VIS-NIR Spectral Imaging for the non-destructive quantitative monitoring of spectral changes that may occur in historical papers and writing media during exhibitions e.g. at the Rijksmuseum. Four spectral imaging instruments in Europe, with different technical specifications, have been used on the same set of reference targets and on samples that will be light aged at different humidity levels using the same LED illumination as is present in the exhibition rooms of the Rijksmuseum. The samples include: a historical blue paper, a light sensitive pastel, papers with foxing and metal intrusions, a sanguine (red chalk) and the Blue Wool Standard grade 1. All of them will be recorded a second time after accelerated ageing in order to assess the monitoring sensitivity. This research project is made possible by the Migelien Gerritzen Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund.

1. QUANTITATIVE MONITORING OF WORKS OF ART ON PAPER
WITH IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY
Roberto Padoan1, M. E. Klein2, L. Stefani3, I. Shevchuk4, H. Mahgoub5, R.G. Erdmann1.
1 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2 DEMCON, Enschede, The Netherlands;
3 IFAC-CNR, Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy; 4 CSMC, Hamburg University, Germany;
5 Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London (UCL), UK.
The goal of this research is to investigate the potentials and the limits of
UV-VIS-NIR Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) and Multispectral Imaging (MSI)
for the non-destructive quantitative monitoring of spectral changes that
occur in historical papers and writing media during exhibitions e.g. at
the Rijksmuseum.
Four different custom made instruments
used by different European institutions in
the field of cultural heritage are currently
being tested for the monitoring
capabilities.
The RMRS01 target will be submitted to accelerated light ageing at 20 different combinations of exposition times, light
intensities andor humidity levels. The same type of LED lamps present in the exhibition rooms of the Rijksmuseum
will be used. Once the ageing is finished, a new set of recordings will be performed with the four instruments for the
assessment of their monitoring sensitivity and for the quantification of the light induced spectral changes.
This research project is made possible by the
Migelien Gerritzen Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund.
Shown on the left is one of the recorded targets, labelled "RMRS01".
This target is composed of samples collected from the following
materials:
Reference targets and original discarded papers of the Rijksmuseum
have been recorded multiple times, within the same day and on
different days, with the four instruments in order to quantify the
reproducibility of the measurements.
1- XIX century paper with metal intrusions;
2- Light sensitive pastel on Whatman paper;
3- The Blue Wool Standard grade 1;
4- Historical paper with sanguine (red chalk);
5- XVII century blue paper;
6- Modern paper with foxing.
A- Push-broom scanner, IFAC-CNR; B- Multi-Band LED-based imaging setup, CSMC; C- SEPIA instrument with optical
filter tuned halogen lamps, Nationaal Archief; D- Push-broom scanner, UCL ISH.
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For such monitoring applications there are currently no standard procedures and little is known of the
instrumentational requirements concerning the wavelength range, spectral resolution and in particular the
repeatability of measurements.