The beauty hidden in a 2,000-year-old painting: X-ray scanning reveals the portrait of a Roman woman lost under layers of ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius Experts used a recently developed portable macro X-ray fluorescence scanner It allows scientists to examine a painting without having to move or touch it It produces maps of elements, such as iron, lead and copper, used to create art The technique could help restore lost artworks to their former glory
Molten lava, volcanic ash, modern grime, salt, humidity, this ancient painting of a Roman woman has been through it all and it looks like it. But a new type of high-resolution X-ray technology is helping scientists discover just how stunning the original portrait once was
Mena: The Middle Age and Renaissance Europeans were not the first people painting portraits. The Ancient Roman started painting the portrait in people. We can see them in the houses in the city of Pompey in Italy and in the Fayum tomb portrait of Egypt.
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