Preliminary study of the formation of cracking and flaking phenomena on oil paintings on copper through the artificial aging of two miniature paintings

Abstract

Fluctuations in environmental conditions appear to affect the conservation of paintings on copper and in this article we report the results of tests carried out using a simple experimental setup to confirm previous studies to show how temperature and RH (relative humidity) fluctuations influence the development of degradation phenomena affecting these paintings. The experiment was conducted on real miniature paintings and the results underline the impact that variations in RH can have on the preservation of oil paintings on copper. The contribution here aims to provide more data to enrich the available information on this topic and broaden the reflection on the risk factors for the conservation of this type of painting. The study also proposes a simple experimental setup with self-made climate chambers which can be useful to artificially test samples or materials for other studies in the conservation field.