W&M Research: Tracking ‘Fugitive Pigments’ Through Chemistry

Time changes everything, and time can be especially hard on paintings executed with the natural pigments used by painters of yesteryear. A longstanding, fruitful collaboration between William & Mary chemist Kristin Wustholz and Shelley Svoboda, a conservator at Colonial Williamsburg, uses a technique known as SERS — surface-enhance Raman spectroscopy — to ID individual molecules in the pigment, allowing for a more accurate reconstruction of the painting in all its original glory.

Read the story from the Winter 2015 issue

Music: "Eaten by the Crowd" by Yusuke Tsutsumi
From the Free Music Archive
CC BY NC

Music: "A Door Into the Dark" by Victoire
From the Free Music Archive
CC BY NC

Music: "Winter Sunshine" by Evgeny Grinko
From the Free Music Archive
CC BY NC

Music: "The Moments of Our Mornings" by Kai Engel
From the Free Music Archive
CC BY NC