By being able to accurately determine the composition of a pigment layer that is superimposed in a painting, one can find whether the painting has been modified and thus identify possible alterations, interventions, or falsifications. In this work, we have characterized a set of 25 pigments used in the production of special easel paint, called as reference canvas (RC). This type of painting can be used in different applications such as the determination of thickness layer in a nondestructive way. However, for the better characterization of this easel painting for future use in thickness layer determination, it is necessary to characterize the pigments used in its production. In this way, X‐ray diffraction , energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence, and wavelength dispersion X‐ray fluorescence were applied to characterize the pigments. Analyses corroborate for a better understanding of the compounds present in the painting used in the preparation of the RC and the respective powder of the pigments used.