Show xray X ray proves valuable in studying paintings the xray X ray probing beneath the surface of famous paintings has aided modern art students by revealing the he technique of old masters and determining the authenticity of questioned paintings a display of more than photographs at harvard fogg art museum showed under the roentgen or xray X ray the original and re touched parts of a picture are immediately revealed thus students are learning the art of restoring damaged parts of paintings by studying those which already have been skillfully re touched the museums research department also has used both the short infrared infra red and long ultraviolet ultra violet rays ray S in addition to the X rays to determine whether several questioned paintings were genuine A portrait by the colonial artist copley when examined under these tools of modern science showed that another artist had not only re touched damaged parts but had painted over the entire original work in another case an anonymous artist realizing that part of a masterpiece ter piece which he had touched up was not as good as the original painted over the entire canvas thus concealing until the advent of the xray X ray a valuable piece of work the roentgen ray will even show what part of a picture has been painted first it revealed that when artist niccolo da foligno painted the central figures of one composition he left the rest to be filled in later by an assistant |