X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Painting Analyses: Undergraduate Classroom, Teaching Laboratory, and Research

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) has wide appeal as a standoff, noninvasive analytical method. It has been applied to art conservation science, cultural heritage science, and technical art history for many years as a point-analysis technique utilizing either benchtop instruments or portable units (pXRF). However, this area was revolutionized by the development of commercial macro-X-ray fluorescence scanning (MA-XRF) devices within the last eight years. This chapter will give a brief introduction to XRF in general and provide an entry into some of the key review literature in the field for both pXRF and MA-XRF. Then, the implementation of this material in four undergraduate courses will be described—an undergraduate laboratory experiment in General Chemistry that has run now for ten years, two courses at the interface of art and chemistry that have evolved for twenty-one years, and a fourth virtual class which was created in three weeks in the spring of 2020 to replace a course that was made impossible by COVID-19. Online data will be provided free of charge for users who do not have the equipment and want to provide the experience to their students. The software involved is either free or inexpensive. We hope that this chapter and its accompanying materials will provide a useful long-term resource for educators in both the arts and sciences while also contributing ideas to the online educational world.