An essay on the Korean early oil painting of self-portrait in the museum of Tokyo National Univerity of Fine Arts and Music

초기 한국 유화의 과학적 조사-동경예술대학 예술자료관 소장 유화 자화상을 중심으로

Painting is well regarded as a stratified structure by the conservators and restorers. Hence, the scientific methods have been developed for the study of the interal layer of paintings. Examples of such methods are X-ray, infra-red, and ultra-violet photography. A more direct method is to look at the painting in cross section under the microscope and to analyze pigments using an electron probe X-ray micro analyzer(EPMA).In this research, I study and analyze twenty two Korean paintings of self-portraits including the first oil painting of Hui Dong Koh's self-portrait stored in the museum of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, employing these scientific techniques. The small fragments taken from the ground layers of the early oil paintings(1915∼1942)are analyzed using the EPMA. According to their main materials, the ground layers can be classified into five types ; 1. Lead white layer and double layer of calcium carbonate and lead white, 2. Zinc white with some mixiture of lead white, 3.Titanium white with some barium white, 4. Barium white, 5.Double layer of titanium white and zinc white.