Scientific Analysis, Traceability and Study of Artworks

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.

 

Pigments_SD

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.