[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-664881-105":59,"doc-detail-664881-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":122,"head_meta":124,"extra_data":126,"updated_unix":128},105,"en","preparation-of-cross-sections-from-easel-paintings-review-strategy","Preparation of Cross-sections from Easel Paintings - Review Strategy","","The literature on making paint cross-sections from easel paintings addresses why sampling is justified, how samples are mounted, ground, and polished, and which analytical methods can extract material information. This review frames cross-section preparation as a coherent strategy for examining painted surfaces, emphasizing decisions about sampling, categorizing collection and examination pathways, and discussing analytical techniques that support study. It also considers long-term degradation and ageing of mounted cross-sections.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/preparation-of-cross-sections-from-easel-paintings-review-strategy/664881/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/preparation-of-cross-sections-from-easel-paintings-review-strategy/664881.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"OKfine","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"Why are paint cross-sections important for studying easel paintings?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"Cross-sections provide information that surface scrutiny and radiographs cannot, clarifying structure and materials, such as where original paint ends and restorations begin, and how degradation and artist technique manifest within paint films.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"What concerns did Gettens raise when justifying sample extraction?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"Gettens argued sampling is warranted when deeper information about underlying paint films is needed, when underpainting indicators are missing from surface examination or radiographs, and when restoration or evidence requires thickness and composition of layered paint films.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What limitations and risks did Plesters emphasize about paint sampling?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"Plesters stressed that only minute samples should be removed to avoid damaging paintings, that limited sample availability constrains long-term study, and that a statistical hazard exists because a very small sampled area may not represent a much larger area that appears uniform to the eye.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},664881,1793276971,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":143},962093957596,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Preparation of cross-sections from easel paintings  \nNarayan Khandekar  \nAbstract  \nThe literature related to the making of paint crosssections taken from easel paintings spans a range of issues, from the reasoning and justification for sampling and sampling methods to sample mounting, grinding and polishing, analytical techniques and long-term degradation. This review places the preparation of cross-sections into an overall strategy for the examination of painted surfaces.  \nIntroduction  \nThis article presents an overview of the information currently available on the preparation of cross-sections, offering a backdrop to the practice and comparing a number of preparation procedures, with the aim of gleaning useful results from their examination. The article is geared toward students and those who are not familiar with cross-section preparation. Established workers in the field will already have made the necessary choices and will have refined their favoured techniques. The ways in which samples are collected, mounted and examined are categorised and a range of analytical techniques are discussed. The article ends with observations on the longterm ageing of mounted cross-sections. While it is recognised that cross-sections are often used in the analysis of painted and varnished surfaces, metal and wooden objects, textiles, paper, ceramic and glass, the emphasis here is on cross-sections from easel paintings.  \nAlthough very close surface scrutiny can reveal much about an object and its construction, it is only when a sample is taken that much more information on structure and materials can be gained. Cross-sections are a critical step in the understanding of the physical nature of the painted surface: defining where the original ends and restorations begin; visualising the degradation in paint films; viewing the artist’s technique (use of particular pigments, pentimenti, media, underlayers, scumbles, glazes, etc.); and perhaps even contributing to an attribution, revealing an artist’s distinctive choice of materials. It must be understood that the cross-section is only one tool in the workshop of a museum scientist, the value of which is limited by the depth and quality of the sample.  \nIn combination with analytical methods such as scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), electron beam microprobe and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) the versatility of the cross-section makes it central to any technical examination of a painting.  \nGettens and Plesters  \nNo article on cross-sections would be complete without acknowledging the pioneering work of Rutherford John  \nGettens, based at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, in the 1930s, and Joyce Plesters of the National Gallery, London. Gettens examined the use of cross-sections in his article ‘A microsectioner for paint films’ that appeared in Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts in 1932 [1] . His contribution to museum science was wide ranging and one part of his body of work was refining the methods of sample collection and preparation. He laid the groundwork for Plesters, whose work on Old Master paintings between the 1950s and 1980s is well known. Her article ‘Cross-sections and chemical analysis of paint samples’, published in Studies in Conservation in 1956 [2], established the techniques associated with crosssections as aids for the study of art, particularly for media and pigment identification. In fact, this paper is reckoned to be the most cited paper in all the conservation literature. The contributions of Gettens and Plesters to the preparation and understanding of cross-sections cannot be underestimated.  \nGettens first outlined the need for cross-sections [1], describing the circumstances where sample extraction could be justified:  \n• when it is necessary to have more exact information than surface examination or radiographs will afford about the underlying paint film in repainted areas before cleaning","cbCaiol3jdJytBoU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiol3jdJytBoU","pdf",1264689,13,"English","# Introduction\n## Purpose and Scope of the Review\n# Gettens and Plesters\n## Pioneering Contributions and Key Publications\n## Justification, Constraints, and Statistical Hazard","[{\"question\":\"Why are paint cross-sections important for studying easel paintings?\",\"answer\":\"Cross-sections provide information that surface scrutiny and radiographs cannot, clarifying structure and materials, such as where original paint ends and restorations begin, and how degradation and artist technique manifest within paint films.\"},{\"question\":\"What concerns did Gettens raise when justifying sample extraction?\",\"answer\":\"Gettens argued sampling is warranted when deeper information about underlying paint films is needed, when underpainting indicators are missing from surface examination or radiographs, and when restoration or evidence requires thickness and composition of layered paint films.\"},{\"question\":\"What limitations and risks did Plesters emphasize about paint sampling?\",\"answer\":\"Plesters stressed that only minute samples should be removed to avoid damaging paintings, that limited sample availability constrains long-term study, and that a statistical hazard exists because a very small sampled area may not represent a much larger area that appears uniform to the eye.\"}]","Preparation of Cross-sections from Easel Paintings - Review Strategy | PDF",33]