18 museomag   04 ‘ 2019 
A POLYPTIC THROUGH X-RAYS 
NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT THE “MALE SAINTS” BY DON SILVESTRO   
DE GHERARDUCCI 
Researchers from Washington and Lee University (USA) 
journeyed to the Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art on 
07 June 2019 to conduct a non-invasive examination 
of a panel painting in the museum’s collection of Male 
Saints that was produced in Florence, Italy sometime 
between 1365 and 1375. Drs. Erich Uffelman (Professor 
of Chemistry) and George Bent (Professor of Art 
History), together with students Lindsey Hewitt and 
Darcy Olmstead, worked with Muriel Prieur (Chief of 
Conservation, MNHA) and Simone Habaru (Painting 
Restorer) to collect data on what was originally the 
right lateral compartment of a polyptych that probably 
depicted the scene of the Coronation of the Virgin and 
Saints. 
The team used four different non-invasive and non- 
destructive instrumental techniques to examine the 
painting. Chemical element information was gathered 
by a technique called portable X-ray fluorescence 
spectroscopy, which exposes a painting to extremely 
low doses of X-rays and sensitively measures the X-rays 
released by the painting. This information can be used 
to deduce pigments present in the composition. A fiber 
optic reflectance spectrometer (FORS) was used to 
bounce ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light off various 
points on the object to collect pigment and paint 
binder information. A hyperspectral imaging system 
was used to gather images of a region of the painting 
at 260 different wavelengths to confirm the FORS point 
data. Crucially, a sensitive Infrared camera was used to 
obtain an infrared mosaic of the entire composition, 
and that image revealed numerous changes to the 
artwork. 
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES 
The examination conducted by the American team 
yielded interesting results. The artist, who was pro- 
bably affiliated with the unusually productive workshop 
formed in Florence by Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di 
Pietro Gerini ca. 1370, made significant changes to at 
least one of his figures: the original designs for the left 
ear, keys, and sash of the kneeling form of St. Peter 
to the far right were altered during the final stages of 
Drs. Erich Uffelman and George Bent, together with students Lindsey Hewitt and Darcy Olmstead from Washington and Lee University 
(USA) during their research at the MNHA-repository. 
© 
tom lucas