Assessment of a portable near-infrared spectroscopy NIRS instrument in cultural heritage materials

This study presents the first approach to the use of the pocket-size molecular sensor SCiO in the field of cultural heritage. The portable, non-invasive, and compact instrument was developed in 2014 as a Startup project of Consumer Physics (Tel Aviv, Israel), bringing Near-Infrared Spectroscopy NIRS to consumers mostly interested in the agricultural field. The main purpose of the project was to explore possible areas of application in cultural heritage in which SCiO could be useful, evaluating the performance and suitability of the instrument, same as future lines of work and improvements. The methodology and results obtained, including the analysis of the spectra, can be a point of reference for future studies using SCiO or similar devices that use NIR. The materials tested in this study were paintings materials; pigment, binder, and varnish reference samples, a canvas painting reproduction, and five paintings of the Italian artist Lino Piccoli (1926-2010), selected as case studies to make possible the exploration of the painter’s palette.