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1
Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of
2
The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Storgata 2 Postboks
Abstract
Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometry (DSPI) and Speckle Decorrelation (DIC) were
used in condition surveys of a wooden altarpiece in the church of Hedalen, Norway. Two
surveys were conducted, one before and one after the heating season in the church to
trace the possible development of damage in the paint layer caused by relative humidity
variations induced by the heating system. The measurements demonstrated that the
speckle techniques can contribute to detecting irregular areas on the paint surface and in
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the paint structure. They proved particularly effective in tracing paint detachments at an
incipient stage which cannot be easily detected by an unaided eye or manual inspection.
The results of the speckle techniques may thus guide a traditional conservation survey, or
the use of further microscopic or analytical survey techniques. The speckle techniques
could be routinely used by conservation practitioners who are not scientists if simple,
Research aims
The main objective of this study was to use Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometry (DSPI)
site in historic buildings, to trace the development of damage in the paint layer at an
incipient stage which cannot be easily detected by an unaided eye or manual inspection.
Introduction
This paper builds on extensive earlier experience in applying the speckle techniques to l
condition surveys of polychrome wood. It has been the main purpose of the study, which
is reported here, to make a further step on the path to make the speckle techniques simple,
precise and repeatable enough so that they find application for routine condition surveys
executed by non-scientists in situ. Another aim of the study was to establish a link
between the climatic conditions in the church and possible new flaws in the paint layer.
to establish that the need for conservation and, especially, re-conservation is due to the
fact that the climate in heated churches in cold climate is unfavourable for painted
wooden objects [1-3]. As a result, authorities responsible for the conservation of the
churches have promoted the implementation of localised heating systems. The idea has
been to limit the heating to the areas where people are, while changing the conditions in a
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church as little as possible, thus favouring the conservation of its historic furnishings [4-
6].
The object of the survey was a medieval altarpiece in the periodically heated stave church
in Hedalen, Norway.
Condition surveys are day-to-day occupation of conservators. They are a principal tool in
getting insights into causes of damage to objects, essential for improving management
repeated at regular time intervals to assess a dynamic damage process. A condition survey
of a painted surface documenting and mapping failures and damage areas in the paint
structure is a crucial step before a treatment so that the latter can be adequately discussed,
planned and justified. The most important survey tools are conservator’s eyes, experience
and skill. In many institutions, forms exist that guide the conservator through the
examination of the object. Looking for loose paint, which is an important part of the
survey and the part we will concentrate on here, is done in many ways. The use of optical
microscopy, raking light and tapping on the surface are the methods most often used. The
method of using the sound feedback is named the acoustic or percussion method [7]. The
surface of the painting is gently tapped with a nail or a finger or a suitable lightweight
instrument, like a small stick. The acoustic response to the tapping gives to the trained ear
a general indication of irregularities in the paint layer, like loose paint. Often a suspicion
that there is loose paint has to be confirmed by optical microscopy. Usually, a more high-
pitched sound indicates a compact and sound structure while a low-pitched sound is
evidence of hollows and indicates a loose layer. The degree of deformability of detached
areas is tested by exerting a slight pressure. The method is not free of risks because
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mechanical pressure is used on a possibly fragile structure; but a trained eye and hand
avoids loss when examining the surface. The person examining the surface has to survey
the total surface with the same level of concentration. There is always a possibility that
some loose paint may ‘escape’ conservator’s attention, and microscopic flaws may not be
detected.
Another weak point of the acoustic methods is that they do not quantify the amount of
loose paint. Usually, the conservator gives a qualitative description of the condition and,
for the documentation, the areas of loose paint are often marked on a photograph.
Also when more sophisticated methods are employed, like active infrared thermography,
a conservator has to interpret the results to explain the condition of the paint.
traditional visual observation with scientific methods for tracing flaws like loose paint.
Interferometric techniques have been increasingly used as diagnostic tools, as they are
non-invasive and because they provide detailed, full-field information on the surface of
the object. However, as the information is restricted to the inspected area, it has to be
transferred into a general description of the condition for the total paint surface. To obtain
specifically, in the paint layer on a wooden object, the surveys should provide
quantitative information for the same object at different points of time, and the current
damage, should be clearly distinguished from the damage caused in the past.
Digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) and speckle decorrelation (DIC) are
particularly attractive for investigations of painted wood. The DSPI technique makes use
of speckles – a granular pattern of light and dark – produced whenever a rough surface is
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illuminated by a laser light. The equipment needed is portable and the method is capable
micro-level can be traced before they are discernible visually. The successful applications
have resulted both from technical developments – exemplified by the use of fiber optics
in the construction of the interferometers [8] – and improvements in the image processing
algorithms [9]. To the authors’ knowledge, DSPI was used for the first time in an onsite
work in 1993 to map damage areas in wall paintings [10]. Thorough description of
advantages and limitation of interferometric techniques applied for the analysis of panel
paintings can be found in a review paper by Ambrosini and Paoletti [11]. Both DSPI and
DIC techniques have been applied to examinations of panel paintings [12-14] and other
automatic fringe recording and processing algorithms make laser speckle metrology an
The described developments have opened the perspective of a routine application of the
speckle techniques for examinations of painted wood, though reducing the cost of the
equipment, and simplifying the measuring procedures and interpretation of the results
The need to carry out the condition surveys after the conservation in 2007 was dictated by
a concern that instable indoor climate in the church with episodes of severe drops in the
relative humidity due to heating in the cold period, may adversely affect the polychrome
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The condition surveys using the speckle techniques were carried out twice: in mid-
November 2008 and then in April 2009 i.e. before and after the coldest season during
which the heating system was operated. The surveys were done on selected parts of the
The church is a wooden construction. The western part of the nave which is the original
twelfth century stave church is not insulated, the part added in the eighteenth century and
restored in mid-twentieth century, the eastern part of the nave and the chancel is partly
insulated. In the summer, the climate inside the unheated church practically follows the
conditions outdoors.
During the cold season, the church has an intermittent heating with the continuous
monitored period, the church was heated to 18-19oC, when used. The church has been
heated since 1903; with ovens under the benches since 1957. The climate in the church
was monitored in the periods 1986-1994 (at selected time intervals), 2001-2002, 2002-
2003 and again in 2008-2009. The climatic conditions in the church are better than
expected in an intermittently heated wooden church in inland Norway, but the difference
between the actual climatic conditions and the ideal conservation conditions is huge. The
heating episodes cause periodic fluctuations of RH when it drops first from high to low
levels and then returns to high RH after the heating is reduced. The maximum RH
fluctuation recorded in the winter of 2008/2009 was 38% over a period of 36 hours,
whereas absolute minimum and maximum values of RH recorded in the church during
the monitoring period were 21% and 72% respectively. In general 10-15% fall in RH is
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3.2. The altarpiece in Hedalen church
The wooden (oak), painted background: a central part with two wings on each side, was
originally a tabernacle for a thirteenth century Maria sculpture. In the eighteenth century,
the tabernacle was separated from the sculpture, redecorated and placed on the altar as the
background for the redecorated medieval crucifix [20]. The altarpiece still has much of
the original mediaeval decorative layer beneath the eighteenth century paint. The area for
the combined surveys was selected on one of the wings. Originally the wings were
decorated with small sculptures placed against a golden background. Therefore, beneath
the eighteenth century polychrome decorative scheme on the wings, there is mainly a
layer of resin varnished silver leaves on top of a layer of bole on a chalk-glue ground. The
metal leaf areas have incisions both in the ground and in the layer of metal.
The binding medium of the eighteenth century paint is oil. The thickness of the paint
layer varies over the surface; both because of various colours being superimposed one
over another and the amount of paint in the brushstrokes. The tabernacle was cleaned and
church
The left bottom panel of the right wing of the altarpiece, marked in Figure 1, was selected
for the analysis. The selected part of the panel was divided into 44 fields measuring 25 x
30 mm which were individually analysed by DSPI. Figure 2 shows the size of the field
illuminated by a laser beam during the measurement. The relatively small size of the
fields analysed increased image quality and produced fringe patterns of good resolution,
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in the range of millimetres. The images optimally revealing various features of the
painted surface were combined digitally, so that they could be compared with
The DSPI survey was carried out independently of a traditional condition survey.
A schematic diagram of the optical setup to perform DSPI analysis used in this study is
(100 mW) from Power Technology is split into two beams using a glass plate. These are
referred to as the object and reference beams. The object beam illuminates the
investigated surface while the reference beam passes through the ground glass and is
merged with the beam reflected from the investigated object using a beam-splitter cube.
recorded by a BCi4-6600 CCD camera from C-cam Technologies (6.6 MPixels with 3.5 x
3.5 pixel pitch). The interferometric filter, centred at the laser wavelength, filters out
optical noise and makes possible daytime operation. When a deformation of the same
order as the wavelength of the laser is induced on the investigated surface, a change in the
In this study, thermal- and sound-induced displacement of the object’s surface was used.
In the first approach, the surface is heated with a flow of warm air for a few seconds,
Immediately after the heating, the speckle pattern on the surface is recorded as a reference
image, then the consecutive images are subtracted arithmetically using the computer and
the difference is displayed on the monitor. It has a form of a series of closely spaced light
and dark bands known as fringes. The fringe pattern is formed as a result of different
local out-of-plane displacements related to different rates of cooling across the surface.
For example, a detached paint layer cools differently from the firmly attached one, as a
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thick paint accumulation does when compared to a thin paint layer. Generally, fringes
become clustered and distorted around local surface deformations and may be used as a
guide to the identification of any heterogeneities in the paint layer. The measuring
procedure allows monitoring the formation of fringes in real-time, which gives the
feature so that its size and shape are optimally defined. Generally, the patterns were
selected for storage in the computer memory at time intervals of approximately one
minute. The described method was particularly well suited to the analysis of planar
features of the paint layer. By way of example, Figure 4 illustrates fringe patterns due to a
retouched loss in the paint and a glued-back detachment in the paint layer next to the loss.
Relating fringe patterns to defects, especially paint layer detachments, remains difficult.
surface for the areas in which paint detachments were suspected. It causes vibration of the
detached paint when the sound wave is close to its resonant frequency. This vibration
produces islands of fringes distinguishing the detached areas from the well adhered paint.
A sound signal with controlled frequency and amplitude was generated by a National
Instrument NI PCI 6221 computer card, amplified and transformed to a sound wave by a
Monacor MPT – 177 loudspeaker with a frequency range from 3.5 to 20 kHz. A
quantitative analysis of the vibration amplitude of the detached paint requires a precise
control of the phase relation between the object and reference beams. This control is
achieved by installing a liquid crystal phase shifter (ARCoptix) in the object beam path.
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the resonant frequency is established, a phase-stepping measurement is conducted and the
delaminated area, its size and the spatial distribution of the vibration amplitude. Readers
Speckle decorrelation measurements were performed using the same DSPI equipment
(Fig. 3) in which the reference beam was blocked. Immediately after switching off the
surface heating, the speckle pattern on the illuminated surface was recorded as a reference
image, and then the consecutive images recorded at time intervals below one minute were
subtracted arithmetically from the reference one, and displayed on the computer monitor.
If the images were perfectly correlated they would cancel completely when subtracted. If
there was some difference - in our case different deformation of irregular areas on cooling
– the irregularities were visible as bright areas. The method was particularly well suited to
recording hair-like fractures in the decorative layer. By way of example, Figure 5 shows
A traditional condition survey based on visual observation with the help of raking light
and magnifiers, as well as acoustic analysis: careful tapping of the surface of the paint
layer using a small stick, was carried out on the selected area of the wing of the altarpiece.
The procedure was as follows: the first conservator checked the areas with irregularities
detected with DSPI to see if they were caused by loose paint. A list of comments was
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made. The second conservator examined the selected area of the panel without knowing
Then the results of the two surveys were compared and the conservators inspected again
areas of the painting which produced fringe anomalies, especially those in which sound
The DSPI technique allowed determination of expansion of the irregularities in the paint
layer by comparing the contours of respective areas recorded by the two consecutive
surveys before and after the heating season in the church, as illustrated in Figure 6.
DSPI detects all irregularities in the surfaces and a paintings conservator needs to discern
between flaws that should be treated or monitored, and mere irregularities in the paint
layer.
Figure 7 compares the outcome of the condition surveys. The DSPI survey revealed 15
areas with irregularities. These are marked in the figure with circles. Only 3 of these were
defined by the conservators to represent loose paint. These are marked with rectangles.
The fringe anomalies for the other 12 were found to be due to lost paint, discontinuities in
the surface between retouching and the original paint, cuppings, or irregularities caused
by the painting technique, like incisions in the original ground. Examples of features
other than loose paint, and the corresponding fringe patterns are shown in Figures 4 and 8.
Some of the flaws detected by DSPI, were so minor that the paintings conservator hardly
would have seen them without the guidance of the DSPI. The areas of loose paint
detected in the tabernacle were too small to be treated, which again shows the advantage
of using DSPI to detect areas where the paint starts to lose its adhesion. Such areas may
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The sound-induced DSPI technique seems to be a better tool for discriminating between
irregularities and flaws than the heat-induced DSPI. The latter technique detected one
detachment of the paint layer which could not have been easily seen during a first survey
with the unaided eye: an L- shaped detached area about 5 mm high and 2 mm wide is
along a contour of the detachment. But the precise extent and shape of the detached paint
in the same figure. Such analysis is only possible when the detached paint flake is big
The described investigations gave also evidence that the climatic conditions in the church
did not practically produce any new flaws in the paint layer over the time interval
between the two DSPI surveys during which the heating system operated. The survey of
the paint condition using DSPI should preferably be repeated at regular time intervals as
damage development depends not only on the RH fluctuation amplitude but also on
5. Conclusions
The study has shown that laser speckle techniques have considerable potential to facilitate
and render more precise in situ condition surveys of painted wood. The main findings are
as follows:
- DSPI can greatly contribute to monitoring planar features of the paint layer. By
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produced and guide a subsequent traditional conservation survey using visual
- DSPI may reveal paint detachments at an incipient stage, which cannot be easily
- the speckle techniques are precise and repeatable enough to follow the defect
- the techniques can be attractive tools for conservators who are not-scientists.
When simple, portable instruments become available on the market, laser spackle
techniques will become a tool for the conservator in checking conservation work, guiding
Acknowledgments
The research was supported by grant PL0086 from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
through the European Economy Area Financial Mechanism. Michał Łukomski gratefully
acknowledges further support received from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher
‘Wood science for cultural heritage’. The work on site was made possible by the
Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway, and by the local Church Authorities. Mille
Research, collaborated in the church with the project team. Furthermore, presentations
and discussions of various parts of this research during meetings of the IE0601
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Caption for figures
1. Main altar of the church in Hedalen, Norway. The conditions surveys were
2. DSPI system on the altar during the measurements - the field illuminated by a laser
beam is visible.
fringes; (c) the analysis of sound-induced vibration of the surface; (d) the same
defect was much reduced in size during the DSPI survey carried out 5 months earlier.
8. Fringe pattern showing the presence of thick paint (top) and discontinuity between
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Fig.1
Fig. 2
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Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
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Fig. 6
Fig. 7
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Fig. 8
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