Linked to the cultural heritage of Saint Vincent College, the painting �Queen Esther before King Ahasuerus� can be seen as a 'family heirloom' for the College community. The research conducted in this article will detail the analysis of a defacement made to the painting in which a portion was seemingly painted over with an augmented image. UV, Visible and IR reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy were implemented in order to uncover the true image underneath by aid of the Ocean Optics Red Tide spectrometer with fiber optic attachment. Data was then collected by each method respectively and compared to known standards. Visual and Scanning Electron Microscopy were implemented in order to verify these results based on cross sectional samples taken from the painting. Unknown pigments have been compared to known samples in order to narrow down the time period for the painting's creation and the time of the painting's defacement.

Chemical and spectral analysis of a defaced 18th century oil painting

245th National Meeting (2013)

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