Reflectance Hyperspectral Imaging for Investigation of Works of Art: Old Master Paintings and Illuminated Manuscripts

Diffuse reflectance hyperspectral imaging, or reflectance imaging spectroscopy, is a sophisticated technique that enables the capture of hundreds of images in contiguous narrow spectral bands (bandwidth < 10 nm), typically in the visible (Vis, 400-750 nm) and the near-infrared (NIR, 750-2500 nm) regions. This sequence of images provides a data set that is called an image-cube or file-cube. Two dimensions of the image-cube are the spatial dimensions of the scene, and the third dimension is the wavelength. In this way, each spatial pixel in the image has an associated reflectance spectrum. This "big data" image-cube allows for the mining of artists' materials and mapping their distribution across the surface of a work of art. Reflectance hyperspectral imaging, introduced in the 1980s by Goetz and co-workers, led to a revolution in the field of remote sensing of the earth and near planets ( Goetz, F. H.; Vane, G.; Solomon, B. N.; Rock, N. Imaging Spectrometry for Earth Remote Sensing . Science , 1985 , 228 , 1147 - 1152 ). In the subsequent decades, thanks to rapid advances in solid-state sensor technology, reflectance hyperspectral imaging, once only available to large government laboratories, was extended to new fields of application, such as monitoring agri-foods, pharmaceutical products, the environment, and cultural heritage. In the 2000s, the potential of this noninvasive technology for the study of artworks became evident and, consequently, the methodology is becoming more widely used in the art conservation science field. Typically hyperspectral reflectance image-cubes contain millions of spectra. Many of these spectra are similar, making the reduction of the data set size an important first step. Thus, image-processing tools based on multivariate techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA), automated classification methods, or expert knowledge systems, that search for known spectral features are often applied. These algorithms seek to reduce the large number of high-quality spectra to a common subset, which allow identifying and mapping artists' materials and alteration products. Hence, reflectance hyperspectral imaging is finding its place as the starting point to find sites on polychrome surfaces for spot analytical techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Reflectance hyperspectral imaging can also provide image products that are a mainstay in the art conservation field, such as color-accurate images, broadband near-infrared images, and false-color products. This Account reports on the research activity carried out by two research groups, one at the "Nello Carrara" Institute of Applied Physics of the Italian National Research Council (IFAC-CNR) in Florence and the other at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, D.C. Both groups have conducted parallel research, with frequent interchanges, to develop multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems to study works of art. In the past decade, they have designed and experimented with some of the earliest spectral imaging prototypes for museum applications. In this Account, a brief presentation of the hyperspectral sensor systems is given with case studies showing how reflectance hyperspectral imaging is answering key questions in cultural heritage.