Dating an artwork

How is it possible to establish the execution period of an artwork analyzing the pigments that it contains?

Every pigment has a date or period time from which it was used and many of the pigments have a date of disuse, either because they were banned for their toxicity or because other pigments with better artistic qualities appeared.

If we know the complete and original palette used in a painting, we can establish, in an objective way, a time range when the artwork was painted.

We show the periods of use of certain very used pigments throughout history.

 

ACTIO, Arte y Ciencia, has an extensive collection of pigments (about 250) from different manufacturers such as Sennelier, Blockx, Kremer, Winsor & Newton, Europigments or Pinturas Mongay, among others.