This paper reports on the potential of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for studying the binding media of samples from paintings. The DSC exothermic curves are complex and it was found that the overlapping effects, particularly in some samples from 19th century paintings, could be best resolved by fitting them to a normal distribution. The temperatures of the resolved peaks were recorded and interpreted in terms of values obtained for the oxidative degradation characteristics of standard materials. The results suggest that this approach may provide a means of characterising the complex mixtures which are frequently present in paintings.