Medieval History
Tucked away in the Tower of London, a mysterious wall painting has been intriguing art historians. Commonly called the Byward Angel, it's one of the most well-preserved murals in the UK and the only surviving medieval interior at the castle. The style of the painting suggests it dates back to the 1390s - but nobody knows who painted it or why it's there.
Until recently, investigating the mural has been a painstaking task as it could only be analysed invasively by taking tiny samples of paint. Now, Haida Liang and her team from Nottingham Trent University have repurposed a medical imaging technique called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to peer inside the paint. "It was first developed to look at 3D in vivo imaging of the eye," says Liang. "In 2004, we started using it for paintings, but it's the first time that we're using it to scan a wall painting."
Click here to read this article from New Scientist
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Medieval History
Medical imaging used to probe Tower of London mural
Tucked away in the Tower of London, a mysterious wall painting has been intriguing art historians. Commonly called the Byward Angel, it's one of the most well-preserved murals in the UK and the only surviving medieval interior at the castle. The style of the painting suggests it dates back to the 1390s - but nobody knows who painted it or why it's there.
Until recently, investigating the mural has been a painstaking task as it could only be analysed invasively by taking tiny samples of paint. Now, Haida Liang and her team from Nottingham Trent University have repurposed a medical imaging technique called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to peer inside the paint. "It was first developed to look at 3D in vivo imaging of the eye," says Liang. "In 2004, we started using it for paintings, but it's the first time that we're using it to scan a wall painting."
Click here to read this article from New Scientist
- Bosch And Bruegel: Four Paintings Magnified
Art Historians and scientists from the University of Glasgow have completed an international research project to trace the origins of four previously misattributed paintings. The two year study which was funded by the European Culture Fund and the British...
- Near-infrared Spectroscopy Illuminates Medieval Art
Scientists in the US and Italy have borrowed a technique more usually associated with geophysical remote sensing and applied it to medieval artwork - with stunning results. The near-infrared hyperspectral imaging of a leaf from a 15th century illuminated...
- Has The Lost Leonardo Da Vinci Painting Been Found?
Researchers are now even closer to answering the question if The Battle of Anghiari is still hidden in the walls of Florence?s Palazzo Vecchio. Led by scientist Maurizio Seracini, a team of researchers have uncovered evidence late last year that appears...
- Physicists Help Discover Medieval Art Hidden Beneath Old Plaster
Developed in part to be a safer form of x-rays, t-rays let researchers see a lot more than bones. The rays help art historians reveal murals that have been buried under plaster for centuries, as well as early drafts of paintings below the final layer...
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A scanner which combines the convenience of a desktop scanner with the functionality of a powerful laboratory imaging device has been developed at the University of Oxford?s Classics Department, and is now being commercialised by a new company Oxford...