Spectroscopic Benchmarks by Machine Learning as Discriminant Analysis for Unconventional Italian Pictorialism Photography

Up to the 1930s, the Italian pictorialism movement dominated photography, and many handcrafted procedures started appearing. Each operator had his own working method and his own secrets to create special effects that moved away from the standard processes. Here, a methodology that combines X-ray flu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Polymers Vol. 16; no. 13; p. 1850
Main Authors:	Scatigno, Claudia, Teodonio, Lorenzo, Di Rocco, Eugenia, Festa, Giulia
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 28-06-2024
Subjects:	Albumen Artistic movements Barium hydroxide Benchmarks Chemical fingerprinting Chromium Discriminant analysis Fourier transforms Gelatin Infrared analysis Infrared photography Infrared spectroscopy Iodine Iron oxides Italian photographs Italian pictorialism kernel density Machine learning machine learning data analysis Manganese Photography Pigments Potassium dichromate Printing raw data analysis Sensors Silicates Silicon Silver halides Software Special effects Spectroscopic analysis Spectrum analysis Unsupervised learning X-ray fluorescence X-ray fluorescence and infrared analysis spectroscopy Italy raw data analysis Italian pictorialism kernel density Italian photographs X-ray fluorescence and infrared analysis spectroscopy machine learning data analysis
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Summary:	Up to the 1930s, the Italian pictorialism movement dominated photography, and many handcrafted procedures started appearing. Each operator had his own working method and his own secrets to create special effects that moved away from the standard processes. Here, a methodology that combines X-ray fluorescence and infrared analysis spectroscopy with unsupervised learning techniques was developed on an unconventional Italian photographic print collection (the Piero Vanni Collection, 1889-1939) to unveil the artistic technique by the extraction of spectroscopic benchmarks. The methodology allowed the distinction of hidden elements, such as iodine and manganese in silver halide printing, or highlighted slight differences in the same printing technique and unveiled the stylistic practice. Spectroscopic benchmarks were extracted to identify the elemental and molecular fingerprint layers, as the oil-based prints were obscured by the proteinaceous binder. It was identified that the pigments used were silicates or iron oxide introduced into the solution or that they retraced the practice of reusing materials to produce completely different printing techniques. In general, four main groups were extracted, in this way recreating the 'artistic palette' of the unconventional photography of the artist. The four groups were the following: (1) Cr, Fe, K, potassium dichromate, and gum arabic bands characterized the dichromate salts; (2) Ag, Ba, Sr, Mn, Fe, S, Ba, gelatin, and albumen characterized the silver halide emulsions on the baryta layer; (3) the carbon prints were benchmarked by K, Cr, dichromate salts, and pigmented gelatin; and (4) the heterogeneous class of bromoil prints was characterized by Ba, Fe, Cr, Ca, K, Ag, Si, dichromate salts, and iron-based pigments. Some exceptions were found, such as the baryta layer being divided into gum bichromate groups or the use of albumen in silver particles suspended in gelatin, to underline the unconventional photography at the end of the 10th century.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2073-4360 2073-4360
DOI:	10.3390/polym16131850