Gas chromatography

Gas chromatography is one of the most important invasive methods which provides this type of relevant information. The method can lead to the identification of the binder layers of the color layers, and reveal whether the artist used traditional techniques of egg tempera, oil tempera painting or oil painting < / b> to create the work. The identification relies on a database of chromatograms of standard samples of organic materials, and cross references them to the characteristic retention time of the sample's different components as separated in the chromatographic column. In order to use gas chromatography to identify the organic materials used by the artist a prerequisite is the creation of a complete database of reference samples based on traditional painting techniques. In addition, gas chromatography can give valuable information on the degree of decomposition of materials.