Thermal Degradation of a Wood Painting Support from XIXth Century

Abstract

This paper presents the study of the thermal degradation of a wood painting support from the "Saints Constantine and Helen” church. As a cultural heritage monument, the iconostasis of the church has an artistic and historic value. In time it suffered a great deal from earthquakes, floods, wars and fire. In the XXth century a large fire burned big parts of the iconostasis and the original painting needed to be replaced. Small pieces of the burned iconostasis are kept for study and restauration in specialised institutions. The aim of this study is to bring new information on thermal degradation and deterioration of old wood from panel paintings. In this regard non-invasive modern techniques were used for analysis, as Optical Microscopy (OM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential thermal analysis (DTA). The analysis were made on a small wood chip that was taken from the panel in the conservation process. The analysis concluded that the wood support was already degraded and deteriorated by biological attacks, which made the fire spread easier. The TGA and DTA concluded that there is a good correlation to the aging of lime wood with the complexity of thermogravimetric processes.