X-ray fluorescence in IAEA Member States: Spain

Full text: The study of patrimonial works by non-destructive techniques has wakened up great interest because they allow the analysis of unique pieces without attempting their integrity. The Archaeometry Unit (UA) of the Instituto de Ciencia de los Materiales of the Universidad de Valencia (ICMUV) has carried out EDXRF analyses for the identification of forged works of art using portable instrumentation. In addition to the detection of forged works of art, EDXRF may help to obtain information of the art pieces that could be important to determine its value. In recent works we have presented some examples of the use of the EDXRF spectrometry to obtain information that can be important to value a work of art. First, we have applied this technique to detect fakes in some paintings which could be attributed to Joaquin Sorolla. The comparison of the EDXRF spectra of these paintings with a database of well-known Sorolla's paintings (database made by the UA) gives additional arguments to judge about the originality of the work. The fact of detecting titanium in 'Carros en la Playa' of the Museo de Bellas Artes de La Habana makes almost impossible that this painting was painted by Sorolla. In 'Portrait of Two Children' we have detected zinc as the most important element, which is not observed in our database. This could indicate that this work is also a fake although it is not a conclusive argument. In addition, the EDXRF technique has been found helpful to determine the degree of originality of a work of art because it is sometimes able to distinguish between the original part from the author and latter modifications from restorations. This has been used in the - 'Fondo de Lucillo Funerario Gotico de la Iglesia de San Esteban de Cuellar' among other works of art. The use of EDXRF analysis to obtain technological information of the process involved in producing the work of art for paintings and for gold-plated pieces has also been made. Finally, as example of the potential applications of the EDXRF analyses, we have reconstructed the original tonality of a degraded region of the oil on canvas paint 'Coronation' (anonymous, s. XVIII) by comparing its EDXRF analyses with some patterns. (author)