Stereomicroscopy
The surface in 3D
With a stereo microscope you can examine the surface in 3D. This allows us to study the paint surface in magnified form. This gives us more information about the painting technique, (for example the order in which it was painted or the texture of the paint), and also about the condition of the painting.
How does it work?
The device has two objectives and two eyepieces, one for each eye. So both eyes see the surface of the painting from a slightly different angle, which results in a "stereo effect", or spatial image impression. The stereo microscope magnifies between 6 and 50 times, depending on the different lenses used. A camera is attached to the microscope to take magnified micrographs of the paint surface.
The two light sources to the right and left of the microscope can be directed onto the canvas in different ways. By changing the angle of the light on the surface, the texture of the paint surface, for example, becomes more visible.