T-Rays for Art's Sake

Remember those terahertz detection devices for seeing through clothes in airports? Well, those T-rays are now going to be deployed to reveal hidden artwork. According to the University of Michigan News Service:

..."T-rays" could let art historians see murals hidden beneath coats of plaster or paint in centuries-old buildings, University of Michigan engineering researchers say.

T-rays, pulses of terahertz radiation, could also illuminate penciled sketches under paintings on canvas without harming the artwork, the researchers say. Current methods of imaging underdrawings can't detect certain art materials such as graphite or sanguine, a red chalk that some of the masters are believed to have used.

If successful, the only naked people will be of the tasteful and arty variety.

Venus with cell phone courtesy of Photobucket, via Pandagon.