Visualizing and Quantifying Rembrandt's Smalt Mixtures in The Night Watch in Three Dimensions Using μ-X-ray Fluorescence Tomography.
8 affiliations
- 1Van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090 GDAmsterdam, The Netherlands.
- 2Science Department, Conservation & Science, Rijksmuseum, Hobbemastraat 22, 1071 ZCAmsterdam, The Netherlands.
- 3Antwerp X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Laboratory, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020Antwerp, Belgium.
- 4Inorganic Chemistry & Catalysis, Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584 CGUtrecht, The Netherlands.
- 5Photon Science at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg22607, Germany.
- 6Université Paris-Saclay, ENS Paris-Saclay, CNRS, PPSM, 4 Av. des Sciences, 91190Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
- 7Hamilton Kerr Institute and Conservation and Science Division, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, CambridgeCB2 1RB, United Kingdom.
- 8Department of Conservation & Restoration, VICARTE, NOVA Universidade de Lisboa, 2829-516Caparica, Portugal.
Abstract
Smalt is one of the main blue pigments in Rembrandt van Rijn's The Night Watch (1642). Smalt is a cobalt-containing potash glass, ground to a powder to be used as an artists' pigment. In this study, three smalt-containing paint samples from this painting were studied using synchrotron radiation-based micro-X-ray fluorescence (SR-μ-XRF) tomography. To study the original intentions of the artist, the degradation phenomena taking place in the paint and the best preservation methods for the painting, a fuller understanding of the smalt-containing paint mixtures is desired. The smalt particles in Rembrandt's paints show a wide variety in size and elemental composition. Elements related to smalt are, e.g., cobalt, potassium, arsenic, bismuth, nickel, and iron. The heterogeneity is very high among the particles within one paint sample. Different clusters of particles can be established based on the intensity of bismuth. This variety could be caused by heterogeneity in the cobalt ore, the glass-making process, the use of multiple types of smalt or it might be the result of in-situ degradation. Next to the smalt, the volume percentages taken up by other components of the paint are semi quantitively estimated based on elemental information. This information can be used in follow-up studies to improve the accuracy of models and the representativeness of reconstructed paint mockup samples. SR-μ-XRF tomography proves to be a valuable tool for the identification and quantification of complex heterogenous smalt paints.
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BibTeX
@article{broers2026visualizing,
title = {{Visualizing and Quantifying Rembrandt's Smalt Mixtures in The Night Watch in Three Dimensions Using μ-X-ray Fluorescence Tomography.}},
author = {Fréderique T H Broers and Annelies van Loon and Jan Garrevoet and Francesca Gabrieli and Jorien R Duivenvoorden and Victor Gonzalez and Paul J C van Laar and Petria Noble and Koen Janssens and Florian Meirer and Katrien Keune},
journal = {Analytical chemistry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1021/acs.analchem.5c07178},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916384},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Visualizing and Quantifying Rembrandt's Smalt Mixtures in The Night Watch in Three Dimensions Using μ-X-ray Fluorescence Tomography.
AU - Fréderique T H Broers
AU - Annelies van Loon
AU - Jan Garrevoet
AU - Francesca Gabrieli
AU - Jorien R Duivenvoorden
AU - Victor Gonzalez
AU - Paul J C van Laar
AU - Petria Noble
AU - Koen Janssens
AU - Florian Meirer
AU - Katrien Keune
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Analytical chemistry
DO - 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c07178
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916384
AB - Smalt is one of the main blue pigments in Rembrandt van Rijn's The Night Watch (1642). Smalt is a cobalt-containing potash glass, ground to a powder to be used as an artists' pigment. In this study, three smalt-containing paint samples from this painting were studied using synchrotron radiation-based micro-X-ray fluorescence (SR-μ-XRF) tomography. To study the original intentions of the artist, the degradation phenomena taking place in the paint and the best preservation methods for the painting, a fuller understanding of the smalt-containing paint mixtures is desired. The smalt particles in Rembrandt's paints show a wide variety in size and elemental composition. Elements related to smalt are, e.g., cobalt, potassium, arsenic, bismuth, nickel, and iron. The heterogeneity is very high among the particles within one paint sample. Different clusters of particles can be established based on the intensity of bismuth. This variety could be caused by heterogeneity in the cobalt ore, the glass-making process, the use of multiple types of smalt or it might be the result of in-situ degradation. Next to the smalt, the volume percentages taken up by other components of the paint are semi quantitively estimated based on elemental information. This information can be used in follow-up studies to improve the accuracy of models and the representativeness of reconstructed paint mockup samples. SR-μ-XRF tomography proves to be a valuable tool for the identification and quantification of complex heterogenous smalt paints.
SN - 0003-2700
SN - 1520-6882
ER -