A painting held within the Marietta College archives was chemically analyzed to determine whether asphalt based paint, known as asphaltum, was used in its creation. Asphaltum paint was popularly used by artists for a period during the nineteenth century, but quickly fell out of use when it became associated with causing wrinkling, cracking, and other detrimental effects on paintings. Some of the damage to the brown and black areas of the painting being studied is consistent with what has been reported as asphaltum related damage, warranting investigation. This study utilized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze raw asphaltum pigment and a paint made from this pigment in an effort to gauge the effect the paint making process has on the chemistry of the sample, an search for any characteristic compounds in samples from the painting. Ultimately, instrumental limitation impeded gathering interpretable data for this study.