Center for Subsurface Sensing & Imaging Systems (CenSSIS)

CenSSIS Undergraduates Work with Museum to Image Art

How can you distinguish between a painting by an old master and a modern forgery? Sometimes the clues to artistic mysteries are in hidden features beneath the superficial layer of paint.

Under the direction of Dr. Gary Laevsky, undergraduate students at the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS), headquartered at Northeastern University, have begun working on an imaging project to help the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) with information about hidden features relating to artwork. The project uses 2-Photon microscopy. Two potential applications for this research will be to examine the feasibility of discerning underdrawings hidden beneath completed paintings and to examine layers of furniture finish to determine its age and composition. At this stage of the research, these "CenSSIS Scholars" are working with MFA curators to characterize samples of wood blocks with pencil sketches under painting and wooden blocks with multiple layers of shellac.

To learn more about this topic:
Visit the Center for Subsurface Sensing & Imaging Systems web page at http://www.censsis.neu.edu/

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Dr. Gary Laevsky (left) works with students and
MFA curators.

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Last modified: May 5, 2006