The researchers also used statistical analyses to clarify more sections. The researchers successfully read 8 of the letters, where they found consistent differences in the copper-to-iron and zinc-to-iron ratios of inks in the original texts and ink in the redactions, which they mapped to reveal the original text. Michelin and her colleagues applied X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to analyze the redacted sections of 15 letters. "We know what is really intimate and what is public information." "It's always really interesting to see what comprises those thoughts that a person considers really intimate and decides to hide," said Anne Michelin, a conservation researcher at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, who co-authored the new research. The letters show a deep friendship between Antoinette and von Fersen, but stop short of confirming that they were romantically entangled. The scientists used a technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, which can detect the chemical signatures of different inks without damaging documents. In a paper published last week in the journal Science Advances, researchers revealed the letters' once hidden words and phrases. Now the world has a peek into the romantic lives of Antoinette and von Fersen. Von Fersen had made copies of them, but words and passages within the copies were heavily redacted by an unidentified censor who had blacked them out with ink. But she still managed to sneak out letters to her friend and rumored lover, the Swedish count Axel von Fersen.įor 150 years, researchers wondered what secrets those letters held.
The country's queen, Marie Antoinette, was closely watched and monitored after an attempted escape to Varennes, France failed. France was on the cusp of revolution as different factions struggled for control. The world was about to change - drastically. (Inside Science) - It was late 1791 or early 1792, in a palace on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris.
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