The French painter Claude Monet is being used as an environmental monitor, for scientists believe his legendary paintings of the Houses of Parliament can serve as a useful indicator of smog levels in late 19th-century London. Monet's so-called London series was painted during visits between 1899 and 1905, capturing scenes that are often astonishing for their grey and purplish haze. Many experts have assumed, though, that this extraordinary effect was an Impressionistic embellishment. Environmental researchers at the University of Birmingham in central England analyzed nine out of 19 Monet paintings of the Houses of Parliament, painted between 1899 and 1901....
