A couple of months ago we told you about how a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer helped a group of Swiss researchers analyze the flavours of Indian foods.
Well, GC-MS has once again popped up in the news, this time in the form of paintings.
As detailed in a recent Sify article entitled “Hidden secrets of world-famous paintings revealed via science,” researchers at London’s National Gallery studied the “organic chemistry” of historic master paintings, and as a result gained more knowledge into how the works of art were created (i.e. the materials that the painters used) and the changes that they have undergone since their creation (i.e. their colors then versus their colors now).
The scientists’ results led them to question both the authors and authenticity of some of the pieces as well.
“The Virgin and Child with an Angel (pictured below)” was considered to be a work of the famous Renaissance painter and goldsmith Francesco Francia and created at around the year 1490. The Washington Post states that the Gallery acquired it in 1924, but its authenticity came into question after a different version of the piece was revealed in 1954.
The National Gallery’s researchers studied the Gallery’s piece and determined that it was painted in the 19th century, and thus a fake, and have also been able to make decisive judgments on disputed pieces of work attributed to famous painters such as Dürer and Rembrandt (as was mentioned in this Fox News article).
And what instrument did the scientists rely on most during their study?
You guessed it, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, which allowed the scientists to analyze “the characterization and composition of paint binding media, additions to paint media such as resins, and the composition of old varnishes.”
The sophistication of their GC-MS instrument was crucial because of both the limited quantity of the samples that were available for analysis and the complex nature of those samples, which added to the fact that some of the samples had to be translated to the chemical composition that they embodied when they were first painted onto the canvas due to degradation.
The scientists’ work is currently on display at the National Gallery in an exhibit entitled “Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries,” which opened today and concludes on Sept. 12. More information on the exhibit can be found on the Gallery’s website, which is linked here.
However, GC-MS enthusiasts should not panic on that September day, as by then there will almost certainly be another story of GC-MS helping scientists accomplish a significant feat.
And any scientist who is going to be conducting GC or GC-MS in the near future should consider CPI International for their materials needs, as our GC/GC-MS product line includes electron multipliers, photoionization detector lamps and high quality organic standards in addition to syringes, liners, columns and much more.
Those who wish to receive a free CPI International catalog or inquire further about our GC and GC-MS products can do so by logging onto www.cpiinternational.com or contacting our office at 800-878-7654.
As the National Gallery researchers have demonstrated, GC-MS is a crucial tool for chemical analysis, and will continue to help scientists in their pursuit of solving makind’s questions for many years to come.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press
