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This scientific study of color prints from chiaroscuro woodcuts is of particular interest and has not yet been carried out on Northern European prints. The aim of this work is to analyze the ink and paper chemical composition, and to define the sequence of printed layers in order to understand how the artists and their workshop achieved visual effects. The methodology, entirely non-invasive and non-destructive, involves the complementary use of imaging and spectroscopic techniques. Imaging techniques provide microscopic and macroscopic observations of the color prints. Together with infrared false color (IRFC) photography, they allow to make the first assumptions regarding the pigments and dyes used in the inks and their sequence of application. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) in visible range enable to detect presence of paper treatments and to characterize pigments and, in some cases, dyes. The paper demonstrates the great potentiality and ability of the totally non-invasive imaging and spectroscopic techniques and shows, for the first time, the results obtained on Northern European chiaroscuro woodcuts produced during the 16th century.

The nine ceiling paintings at the Banqueting House Whitehall, painted by Peter Paul Rubens and studio is one of the largest and most complex works by the master, and has survived in its original location for almost 400 years. Historic Royal Palaces’ current Banqueting House Whitehall conservation and re-presentation project provided a rare opportunity to carry out a first-ever full and systematic technical conservation survey to determine how the paintings were created and how they have changed over the years. In 2018, scaffold access enabled the present technical survey to be conducted in-situ with a non-invasive multi-technique approach using a set of portable instruments. Notably, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, integrated XRF/X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and FT-IR reflection spectroscopy were employed to study two of the paintings, the large central oval The Apotheosis of King James I (Apotheosis) and the south end rectangle The Wise Rule of King James I (Wise Rule). Results revealed information about the materials used by Rubens and his studio for the production of these large-scale paintings. Pigments identified by XRF and XRD analysis including hydrocerussite, vermillion, smalt, copper-based blue or green pigments, lead-tin yellow and iron oxide-based pigments. OCT and FT-IR analyses provided information about the nature of compounds resulting from the alteration of some original materials and the condition of varnish layers.