Abstract
BackgroundNatural resins were frequently employed as adhesives or as components of oleo-resinous media in paintings in the past. The identification of vegetable resins is still an open problem. The aim of this paper is to analyze by GC-MS some vegetable resins frequently employed in paintings, such as Venice turpentine, dammar, copal, elemi in order to identify their main component in raw and aged samples. Some molecules are proposed as chemical “markers” to identify these natural resins.ResultsThe results obtained on standards allowed us to successfully analyze sample collected from one work of art: the Madonna with the Infant and Angels by Antonello da Messina (XV century).ConclusionThe results obtained confirm that the painting the artist originally used a mixture of linseed oil and natural resin (Venice turpentine) as binding medium.
Highlights
Natural resins were frequently employed as adhesives or as components of oleo-resinous media in paintings in the past
Analytical procedures, developed and tested on standards, were applied to analyze samples collected from old masters paintings that where in restoration by the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (ICR) of Rome, Italy
A micro-Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used because it proves to be a powerful tool to obtain significant and non-destructive analyses on different materials, both organic and inorganic [25,26,27,28]. This technique was employed as a preliminary analytical technique to detect the presence of resinous materials in a sample collected from the painting of artistic interest “Madonna con Bambino e Angeli”, by Antonello da Messina
Summary
Natural resins were frequently employed as adhesives or as components of oleo-resinous media in paintings in the past. The identification of the compounds employed in artistic paintings provides valuable information for both the knowledge of an artist and a correct restoration project. It is the analysis of binding media that allows it; simultaneously, this issue has always been one of the most important goals of analytical chemistry in conservation studies [1,2,3,4]. Analytical chemistry offers suitable techniques to provide the restorer with the necessary analytical information for conservation treatment [11]
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