Campus News

Georgia Tech researchers use scanners to see layers of painting

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are using high-speed scanners to peer beneath the layers of paint and see how classical artists created masterpieces. 

Using terahertz scanners, the researchers are able to create a high-resolution glimpse of what lies beneath the surface of a painting. These scanners emit electromagnetic waves, which penetrate the layers of pigment before being reflected back, thereby creating an image of a painting’s layers. Some of these layers are incredibly thin—as small as 20 microns thick, which allows the researchers to see more of the artist’s process. 

The Georgia Tech researchers have been using the technique to study the painting “Madonna in Preghiera,” which was created by the workshop of 17th-century artist Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato. With the terahertz scanners, the researchers were able to identify the canvas support, ground, imprimtura, underpainting, pictorial and varnish layers. 

The application also has been used on a Byzantine coin, to see through a layer of oxidation and read an inscription.