Non-invasive investigation on pigments of the Aeolian Islands Neolithic pottery

Special Issue: Results of the II National Research Project of AIAr: Archaeometric Study of the Frescoes by Saturnino Gatti and Workshop at the Church of San Panfilo in Tornimparte (AQ, Italy)

“…The RAK photos [21] as well as the images acquired with imaging techniques [17] show the presence of incision marks (with minor pouncing) and the boundaries of "giornate" and "pontate", which clearly suggest the use of the fresco painting technique, although in several areas the colour spread was "a secco" [19,24,25], especially where colour loss is observed. The presence of a "morellone" layer under the blue-sky background for the scene depicted on panel E and under the vault confirms the use of the "a secco" painting technique [16].…”

“…An interesting aspect that emerges from the surveys is the possibility of recognising consequently preserving the finishing touches applied "a secco": the petrographi chemical studies have demonstrated the tendency of Saturnino to apply colour correc onto the dry plaster [18]. During the restoration phase, the cleaning should be approached with particula and caution to remedy the serious errors of evaluation that were repeated in the cle operations executed in the 1950s and 1972 [19], because of which many exquisite d were removed due to the use of excessively invasive products. All these argum however, deserve further investigation when the planned restoration work is act launched.…”

“…During the restoration phase, the cleaning should be approached with particular care and caution to remedy the serious errors of evaluation that were repeated in the cleaning operations executed in the 1950s and 1972 [19], because of which many exquisite details were removed due to the use of excessively invasive products. All these arguments, however, deserve further investigation when the planned restoration work is actually launched.…”

“…The strong synergy between the in situ/non-invasive analyses [16] and the imaging techniques survey [17,21] performed on the same pictorial areas allowed an analysis of the quality of the punctual analyses results, demonstrating how a well-designed non-invasive campaign can drastically reduce the amount of sampling [18,19,24,25] necessary to obtain complete information on the materials and the artist's technique.…”

Correlation of Visible Reflectance Spectrometry and Portable Raman Data for Red Pigment Identification

“…Over the recent years, much interest has been notably directed towards the development of methodologies and novel strategies aimed at the comprehensive characterization of historical inorganic/organic pigmenting agents, alongside the identification of possible degradation products originating from the interaction of such agents with the surrounding environment [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. These aspects play a fundamental role not only in estimating the choice and style of the artist but also in reproducing similar materials in accordance with ancient recipes which can be used for restoration interventions [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. As is well known, the preservation and conservation of pigmented artworks generally require the employment of techniques that provide valuable information while minimizing the potential risk of damage.…”