Non-destructive testing of works of art by stimulated infrared thermography

¹ GRESPI/ECATHERM, UFR Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, BP 1039, 51687 Reims cedex 02, France
² Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, 29 avenue du Paris, 77420 Champs-sur-Marne, France

^a e-mail: jean-luc.bodnar@univ-reims.fr

Received: 1 July 2011
Revised: 18 October 2011
Accepted: 3 November 2011
Published online: 23 December 2011

Abstract

In this work, we present various examples of assistance to the restoration of works of art by stimulated infrared thermography. We show initially that the method allows the detection of delamination located in mural paintings, such as in the “Saint Christophe” of the Campana collection of the Louvre French museum. We show then that it also makes it possible to detect delaminations or galleries of worms in marquetries. We show in a third stage that it provides for the detection of detachment of grayness in stained glasses. We show in a fourth stage that it allows the visualization of shards or metal inserts located in a Greek “panathénaque” amphora of the French National museum of the Ceramics of Sevres. We show finally, that the method permits the detection of a crack located in an ovoid vase of the same French National museum of the Ceramics of Sevres.