Methods of research of historical materials

The publication is intended primarily for restorers, curators of collections or art historians. That is, those who do not have special scientific knowledge, but who come into contact with material research on works of art and often commission it themselves. It should help them to orient themselves in the results and conclusions of chemical analyses and introduce those analytical methods that are most often used in the study of historical materials, showing their possibilities and limitations and their requirements for sampling. It should also draw attention to some relatively new, less widespread, and mostly less accessible analytical methods, but their diffusion is only a matter of time.

The publication lists the physical and chemical methods currently used for the analysis of art and historical materials. It deals with the collection of a representative sample, the choice of the analytical method and the interpretation of the result. For all presented analytical procedures, the chemical or physical principle of the method is given, as well as practical examples from the analysis of art and historical materials.

The field of analytical chemistry is developing rapidly. A number of methods that were used only sporadically 20 years ago, in extremely well-equipped workplaces, are now widely available for routine analysis. Of course, even at this point, there are already other new methods, more sensitive, with more options, but normally unavailable, some of which will become stale over time.