This article explores the utility of X-Ray Florescence (XRF) in identifying pigments used in early modern hand-colored prints. Published accounts of the use of XRF on hand-colored documents are rare. As a consequence, historians and conservators know little about the pigments used in hand-colored prints, information that is not only vital for the preservation of extant colored documents, but also essential for helping historians periodize hand-coloring and assess its usage. In collaboration with the Preservation, Research, and Testing Division (PRTD) at the Library of Congress, this study compared early modern coloring manuals with XRF analysis of printed and hand-colored cartographic compilations from Amsterdam (Fredrik de Wit, Atlas, c. 1688 printing) and London (Richard Blome, Geographical Descriptions of the Four Parts of the World, c. 1670 printing).The combination of textual and technological analysis resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the materials used in hand-coloring prints in early modern Europe. The study also exposed surprising actors in the history of the analyzed documents, highlighting the exciting potential of XRF to verify the historical authenticity of hand-coloring.

中文翻译：

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将世界置于“适当的颜色”中：在早期现代地图中探索手工着色

本文探讨了X射线荧光（XRF）在识别早期现代手工彩色印刷品中使用的颜料中的实用性。很少有人在手工彩色文档上公开使用XRF。结果，历史学家和保护者对手工彩色印刷品所用的颜料知之甚少，这些信息不仅对于保存现存的彩色文件至关重要，而且对于帮助历史学家定期手工着色并评估其用途至关重要。与国会图书馆的保存，研究和测试部门（PRTD）合作，本研究将早期现代着色手册与来自阿姆斯特丹的印刷和手工着色制图汇编的XRF分析进行了比较（Fredrik de Wit，Atlas，c。1688）。印刷）和伦敦（Richard Blome，《世界四部分的地理描述》，c。1670年印刷）。文本分析和技术分析相结合，使人们对近代早期欧洲的手工着色印刷品所用的材料有了更细微的了解。该研究还揭示了被分析文件历史上令人惊讶的参与者，突出了XRF验证手工着色历史真实性的令人兴奋的潜力。