Through these microscopic cross-sections of thirteenth-to twentieth-century paintings, Spike Bucklow unearths the hidden processes, materials and techniques of Rembrandt, Carravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Walter Sickert, Claude Monet, Marianne North and more.…

Through these microscopic cross-sections of thirteenth-to twentieth-century paintings, Spike Bucklow unearths the hidden processes, materials and techniques of Rembrandt, Carravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Walter Sickert, Claude Monet, Marianne North and more.

Within one sample of paint, the size of a pin prick or full stop, lies a vast and complex geological strata; a masterpiece by Titian becomes an abstract landscape of yellowing varnish, crunchy blue lapis, a silken slab of lead white, sea shells floating in chalk, egg mingling with oil atop of taut canvas.