Art analysis probing beneath the image: Electrotechnology backs up museum conservators in analyzing, conserving, and restoring works of art and in unmasking forgeries

Instruments for high-precision analyses of pieces of art and the techniques used in the analyses are discussed. Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers, high-pressure liquid chromatographs, combined gas chromatograph and mass spectrometers, and X-ray fluorescence spectrometers combined with scanning electron microscopes, which have been slowly working their way into the top institutions in the art world, are described. Work on the Mona Lisa is noted as an example of the value of computer image processing for analyzing and restoring priceless paintings.