The Pigments of the Painter Fleury Richard (1777–1852), a Model for Multidisciplinary Study

Fleury Richard was a colorist painter of the early 19th century. He practiced oil technique inspired by Renaissance at time when advances in chemistry were introducing many new synthetic pigments. His color-mixing cabinet has been kept intact Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon. This original study is based on analysis more than 40 color powders using different spectroscopic techniques (X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy), index estimation, comparison results obtained from three pictural works painted artist. It allows us (i) to identify reference pigmented choices connection with historical manuscripts describing artist’s practice, (ii) most judicious methods question difficulty analyzing paintings non-destructive way, where pigments are put into matrix mixed.