© 2026 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New technique uncovers the history of a painting through the paint used

NPR | By Mano Sundaresan,
Christopher Intagliata
Published December 3, 2021 at 3:52 PM CST

By analyzing white lead paint in Dutch paintings from the 1600s, including works by Rembrandt and Rubens, scientists were able to devise a new line of evidence for dating and authenticating paintings.

P. D'Imporzano et al, Time-dependent variation of lead isotopes of lead white in 17th century Dutch paintings

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mano Sundaresan
Mano Sundaresan is a producer at NPR.
Christopher Intagliata
Christopher Intagliata is a senior editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air.