Roman and DmitryRoman Maev and Dmitry Gavrilov pose with their thermographic analysis equipment at the Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research.

Physicists use high-tech methods to analyze priceless art works

Walk in to the Louvre, take a flash photo of the Mona Lisa and chances are you’ll be promptly escorted out by some rather unhappy security guards. Besides obvious copyright and security concerns, museum curators take a dim view of light from flashbulbs hitting the priceless art works for which they’re responsible.

So Roman Maev and Dmitry Gavrilov weren’t surprised when their suggestion to blast paintings with an intense pulse of light as part of a method to determine their condition and authenticity was met with some initial resistance.

“They thought we were crazy,” admits Dr. Maev, a University of Windsor physicist and director of the Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research.

Thermography, however, is gradually being embraced as a method of both authenticating works of art and helping curators better understand what’s required to preserve them, and Maev and Gavrilov, a PhD student in his lab, are paving the way for its acceptance.

A method of non-destructive evaluation, thermography can be used to analyze the properties, structure and condition of a painting by studying its temperature dynamics. In various other forms, it’s used for everything from medical diagnostic imaging to thermal mapping for detecting heat loss in buildings.

For Maev and Gavrilov’s purposes, it involves sending a rapid pulse of light with an optical flash which slightly raises the surface temperature of their subject. A thermal camera takes a series of snapshots, capturing the temperature at each interval. The pattern of how the surface cools reveals what’s underneath. The process can detect defects, various weave patterns in canvas, and in some cases, reveal alterations that may have been made to a painting over time.

Besides better understanding levels of degradation, it may also help experts reveal forgeries, which according to the FBI, is a $6 billion per year trade, making it the third most lucrative crime in the world after drug trafficking and the illegal weapons trade, Maev said.

Naturally, museum curators were apprehensive when told how the process works, but in fact, exposure may be hundreds of times less than the regular light a painting is exposed to during the course of a day, according to an article they recently published in the Canadian Journal of Physics.

“Touching the painting with your finger actually raises the temperature of the painting more than this process does,” said Gavrilov.

So far, they’ve used the process at the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge and in Moscow at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. In Cambridge, they analyzed a series of seven paintings called Triumph of the Eucharist by P.P. Rubens. Their goal was to determine whether the individual panels were painted on separate wood plates, or if they were painted on one large panel that was cut into pieces after the fact. Their analysis revealed that three of the panels had similar wood grain structure, while other panels had entirely different wood grain.

The team has also been invited to the National Gallery of London to work on a collaborative international Rembrandt project this summer.

Thermography, however, isn’t the only high-tech process used by the team, which also includes Darryl Almond, a professor at the University of Bath. Infrared imaging, spectroscopy, UV fluorescence analysis, and acoustic microscopy are among the other innovative techniques they use to conduct pre-restoration analysis of works of art, and all are described in their article.

“It’s breakthrough technology,” said Maev. “As physicists, this is fascinating for us.”

Philip AdamsonUWindsor music professor Philip Adamson is the featured soloist for Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto no. 4” during the Windsor Community Orchestra concert Sunday.

Concert to feature Beethoven piano piece

Music professor Philip Adamson will take to the keyboard for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4 during the Spring Finale concert of the Windsor Community Orchestra on Sunday, April 13.

The orchestra, under the direction of Peter Wiebe, serves as a training orchestra for University of Windsor music students and also provides a playing opportunity for alumni and members of the community at large.

In addition to the Beethoven work, Sunday’s program features Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony no. 5.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. in Assumption University Chapel. Admission is $10, with a student rate of $5. For more information, phone 519-945-6038.

people posed in front of truckStudent and staff volunteers collected more than three metric tons of food for donation to local food banks April 5.

Food bank donations help to fill emptying shelves

The Higher Education Reaching Out (HERO) Project has one over-arching goal: to give students a chance to repay the Windsor area that hosts them during their University years. A collection drive in support of local food banks showed the value of that effort, netting more than three metric tons of food.

About 130 volunteers—students and staff—headed door-to-door April 5, soliciting donations for the Unemployed Help Centre.

“The staff at the food bank was really happy for the donation because they were very low due to the time of year,” says residence life coordinator Jacqueline Mellish. “The students were shown the food box given to an average family. Seeing how empty it was helped them to understand the need in the community.”

In addition to the contribution to the Unemployed Help Centre, Residence Services conducted a food drive that restocked shelves in the student food bank at Iona College.

“The Iona food bank was low as well, so this donation came at the right time to support students through the rest of the semester and into summer,” Mellish says.

Watch a video about the April 5 “HERO Day of Action.”

Campus Technology Day designRegister for Campus Technology Day by noon April 24 to qualify for a complimentary lunch and closing reception.

Early bird catches the iPad: registration open for Campus Technology Day

Cathy Loewen, research and development officer in the Centre for Smart Community Innovation, won an iPad mini in the draw for early bird registrants to Campus Technology Day.

If you missed that deadline, do not despair: there is still plenty to win if you register by noon on April 24—a complimentary lunch, wine and cheese reception, and a day-long program of sharing and celebrating the ways technology impacts and enhances learning, teaching, research and building community.

The conference is set for Tuesday, April 29, in the Toldo Health Education Centre. With a theme of “Let’s Talk Technology,” it is being held in conjunction with the Ontario Universities Computing Conference, drawing delegates from across the province.

Registration is free for UWindsor faculty, staff and students. Find more, including a full program and online registration, on the conference website.