Wall painting is one of the most recognizable legacies from the Roman period. Though rather limited in their use, lead compounds were present in the elaboration of their pigments, such as sandyx, described by Pliny. In the inner and upper layers of Roman wall paintings from the domus Avinyó archaeological site in Barcelona, lead-phosphorus compounds, together with the degradation product...
In 2019, Operation Night Watch started at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A wide range of macro-, micro-, and nanoscale techniques were used to study this 17th-century masterpiece by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). One of Rembrandt’s most commonly used pigments in The Night Watch (1642) is smalt, a ground potash glass colored blue by cobalt (Co) ions.[1] In this synchrotron radiation-based...
We present analysis of seven samples from early modern English wall paintings, most dating to 1550-1660, when decorative wall paintings were used to convey status and cultural knowledge (Fig. 1A, 1B). The selection of pigments has implications for the affordability, accessibility, and sociocultural significance of the paintings. Identification of pigments and degradation products is also...
Synchrotron-based X-ray Powder Diffraction (SR-XRPD) is particularly suited for the study of historical pigments. This technique indeed enables to discriminate between the multiple inorganic products present in complex paint stratigraphies at the micrometric scale, but also to provide detailed information on their composition and microstructure. This talk will present SR-XRPD research...
Paleolithic cave representations are one of the oldest forms of art from modern humans, and as such it is important to understand the coloring matters used, usually black, red or yellow. The study of black Paleolithic coloring matter has been well developed, and analytical procedures have been established [1],[2]. Instead, reds are more complicated, as the coloring matter and the cave wall...
Infrared spectroscopy has become a routine method for studying artistic materials and monitoring degradation processes. Most studies focus on the mid infrared spectral region (MIR 600-4000 cm-1), whilst the far infrared region (FIR, 50-600 cm-1) is often neglected. However, some studies have already highlighted the potential of analyses in the far-infrared region. It was shown that many...
Within this talk, the technique of Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) will be introduced in the context of nanostructure characterization of heritage objects especially of written artefacts or paintings.
The object of interest of the presented study is a fifteenth-century heritage object namely a set of 65 Tibetan ritual cards (tsakali) from a private collection. The obtained...
