Word: x
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...X-Ray Technique...
Among the problems illustrated are the restoration of damaged and repainted pictures, the cleaning off of layers of opaque varnish, and the study by means of the prints of the X-ray shadowgraph of not only the condition of a painting but also of the technique of old masters...
...usefulness of the X-ray in penetrating to the under layers of paint without damaging the work is illustrated. In one case, it is shown, the X-ray indicates that the Fogg Museum probably possesses a true portrait by the colonial artist Copley, and not an inferior copy. The picture's authenticity had been questioned because the surface painting is inferior to the artist's usual work...
...X-ray demonstrated, however, that the underpainting was probably in Copley's own bold style, but that the picture had subsequently been damaged and had been touched up by a later artist, who was not content to fill in the gaps, . . . but repainted the whole surface...
Similarly in another instance the X-ray shadowgraphs probed beneath the surface of a sentimental and flat painting of a "Madonna and Child" attributed to the 15th century Italian, Antonazzo Romano, and discovered underneath it a much more forceful painting. When an accurate copy has been made of the outer painting, or when a colour photograph has been taken, the Fogg technical staff plans to clean off the outer layers of paint and reveal the original and more important work...