"Sant Martí de Puigbò: una iconografia per a Ramon Berenguer III?", Pintar fa mil anys. Els colors i l'ofici del pintor romànic, CASTIÑEIRAS, M.; VERDAGUER, J. (ed.), Bellaterra: UAB/ Magistri Cataloniae, 2014, p. 71-86. (original) (raw)

The study of the mural painting in the 12th century monastery of Santa Maria delle Cerrate (Puglia-Italy): characterization of materials and techniques used

Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, 2013

A multidisciplinary research was conducted by the University of Salento in collaboration with the Lecce Provincial Museum, in order to study different forms of art widespread in the Salento peninsula (Southern Italy) very valuable from an artistic point of view and important as driving force for the tourism of the area. In this research, the archaeometrical analysis was used to study the first cycle of paintings of the church of Santa Maria delle Cerrate, an italo-greek monastery located in the country about 15 km north-east of Lecce, probably built in the 12th century. Microscopic, chromatographic and spectrometric techniques were used: optical microscopy was used to study samples and the relevant stratigraphy, micro-Raman Spectroscopy to identify pigments and Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometric Detection to investigate the techniques masters used to decorate the monastery church. Further information on organic and inorganic materials present in the samples were obtained from Fourier transform infrared analysis in attenuated total reflectance. Materials and techniques were clearly ascertained, and, interestingly, pigments were applied both by fresco and egg-based tempera. Among the various pigments detected, the identification of both lapis lazuli and lead white opened new perspectives both from the historical and conservative points of view.

THE MEASURE OF CHRIST IN THE CATHEDRAL OF VALENCIA. UNVEILING ITALIAN-LIKE TECHNICAL PROCESSES OF AN EXTRAORDINARY PAINTED SENDAL

ESCARC 2019. 11th European Symposium on Religious Art, Restoration & Conservation. Proceedings Book, ed. M. L. Vázquez de Ágredos-Pascula, I. Rusu, C. Pelosi, L. Lanteri, A. Lo Monaco, N. Apostolescu, Torí, Kermes, 2019, pp. 193-196, 2019

This paper focuses on the study of the intriguing mid-14th century painted cloth, which is known as The Measure of Christ (‘La Mida’ or ‘Longitud de Cristo’). This odd sendal has been usually related to the Catalan-Italian Gothic style, especially, to the circles of Ramon Destorrents and the Brothers Serra. As a matter of fact, this artwork was probably made by an artist who perfectly knew very specific Italian traditions and was able to translate them into a spiritual and apocalyptical manner. As the surface of the painting was extensively restored in the past, our study aimed to enquire the pictorial material on the cloth, the painting making process as well as to identify and date its various former restorations. The results allow us to shed new light on the artistic background of the painter who mastered the use of blue pigments and the cloth painting as they are described by Cennino Cennini following the 14th century Italian workshop tradition.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL «HUBERT CURIEN», 4th Course on The materiality of artistic creation: weaving visual culture and chemistry CERASUOLO Angela, Museo di Capodimonte - Searching for mean and purposes: materials, technical processes and the appearance of paintings in the Sixteenth century

The lecture will deal with the examination of the manner in which the various constituent materials can characterize the appearance of the paintings. We will try to track down what was the appearance sought by artists, through the analysis of literary sources and, when possible, of the works. The appearance, opaque and soft in glue tempera, lustrous and shining in an oil painting, the effect of varnish and of any finishes and glazes, the desire to emulate the elusive atramentum of Apelles, the will to get in the wall painting the same effects of transparency and color intensity of oil painting, are some of the things that have influenced and were influenced by the availability of materials and research on their properties. We will comment these issues as they are dealt in the artistic literature, providing an overall depiction, and will then make a lunge at narrower topics, presenting some case studies.

A multi-analytical study of the fifteenth century mural paintings of the Batalha Monastery (Portugal) in view of their conservation

Applied Physics A, 2013

The systematic characterization of the painting's palette and technique applied on the execution of the mural paintings of the Batalha Monastery (Batalha, Leiria, Portugal) is presented. These are the oldest mural paintings known in Portugal (apart from Roman frescoes) and represent the beginning of an artistic Portuguese tradition that continues until the nineteenth century. The aim of the study was to identify for the first time by adopting a multi-analytical physico-chemical approach of the pigments, binder, and alteration products (white veils, crusts, and pigment alteration) of these unique works of arts in order not only to better understand the painting technique, but also to support a conservation-restoration intervention that took place from Micro-sampling of paint layers was performed on representative areas of the paintings. The characterization of the pigments and binders was carried out by microscopy and microanalysis of cross sections using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), micro-FTIR, and micro X-ray diffraction.

In Situ Diagnostic Analysis of the Second Half of XVIII Century “Morte DI Sant’Orsola" Panel Painting Coming from Chiesa Dei Santi Leonardo e Erasmo Roccagorga (LT, Italy)

2021

By meansof combined use of non-destructive and non-invasive in situ analysis, diagnostic research has been carried outon pigments and underlayersused to fabricate anoil painting representing the “Morte di Santa Orsola”, corresponding to the second half of XVIII century, from the churchofSaints Leonardo andErasmo (Roccagorga Latina, Italy). The aim of the work has been the evaluation of the materials employed and the state of conservationof the artwork.The structural and morphological properties of the painting were defined in detail using different and complementary analysis such asUV-Vis-P, IR-R, ED-XRF, Raman,DRS andFT-IR.The results showed that the palette was composed mainly of ochre and earth pigments except forthe blue, red and white hatchings, constituted respectively asPrussian blue, cinnabar and white lead.At the time, the preparatoryunderlayer essentially had a gypsum, animal glue and white lead composition. Moreover, using infrared reflectography it was possible to discov...