Every picture tells a story, but great works of art that are hundreds of years old may have lost a few details that are worth finding. Paint colors degrade over time, especially the natural pigments used by Johannes Vermeer and other Dutch masters. How do we know the original intent of the artist when their paintings don't look the same as when they were new?
Frederik Vanmeert works at the nexus of art and science. As a chemist at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, he gets up close and personal with the nation's greatest works of art to analyze their composition at the molecular level. Vermeer in particular left us with little insight into his intentions when creating his paintings, since he didn't write about them, and gave few clues to his goals. Deciphering the original look of a pigment that used 300 years ago is a puzzle to Vanmeert, but it comes with controversy. Does the appearance of a painting in the past matter? Does the intentions of the artist matter? One thing Vanmeert has found is that pigments were very important to Vermeeer. The various types of white paint made all the difference in his portrayal of shadows in his works. Read about Vanmeert's work and what we've learned about Vermeer's paintings at The Walrus. -via Damn Interesting