TECHNART 2017. Non-destructive and microanalytical techniques in art and cultural heritage. Book of abstracts

440 p.TECHNART2017 is the international biannual congress on the application of Analytical Techniques in Art and Cultural Heritage. The aim of this European conference is to provide a scientific forum to present and promote the use of analytical spectroscopic techniques in cultural heritage on a worldwide scale to stimulate contacts and exchange experiences, making a bridge between science and art. This conference builds on the momentum of the previous TECHNART editions of Lisbon, Athens, Berlin, Amsterdam and Catania, offering an outstanding and unique opportunity for exchanging knowledge on leading edge developments. Cultural heritage studies are interpreted in a broad sense, including pigments, stones, metal, glass, ceramics, chemometrics on artwork studies, resins, fibers, forensic applications in art, history, archaeology and conservation science. The meeting is focused in different aspects: - X-ray analysis (XRF, PIXE, XRD, SEM-EDX). - Confocal X-ray microscopy (3D Micro-XRF, 3D Micro-PIXE). - Synchrotron, ion beam and neutron based techniques/instrumentation. - FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. - UV-Vis and NIR absorption/reflectance and fluorescence. - Laser-based analytical techniques (LIBS, etc.). - Magnetic resonance techniques. - Chromatography (GC, HPLC) and mass spectrometry. - Optical imaging and coherence techniques. - Mobile spectrometry and remote sensing

Investigation of the complementary use of non-invasive techniques for the holistic analysis of paintings and automatic analysis of large scale spectral imaging data

The analysis of painting materials and methods is acknowledged for providing important information to art history. This study illustrates a detailed examination of the characteristics, advantages and capabilities that the combined application of a variety of non-invasive techniques, ranging from spectral imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT), to fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy, has to offer. The analysis of painting materials is seen under the prism of a holistic examination of different types of cultural heritage objects. More specifically, the limitations that the individual techniques face and, most importantly, how their complementary use can overcome them are thoroughly investigated through the examination of a large and heterogeneous statistical sample, in a completely novel way. The heterogeneity of the sample is related both to the painting materials (i.e pigments, binding media and substrates) and the degradation level (i.e. paintings stored in storages of museum and murals of caves that are exposed in the environmental conditions of the desert). For the extraction of accurate conclusions about the painting materials and methods applied in a specific period, the examination of large number of artworks of this period is required. PRISMS, the spectral imaging system developed by our group enables the time efficient imaging of large painting surfaces, leading to the acquisition of large scale spectral imaging data, which makes such an analysis faster, more cost-effective and less laborious without diminishing the quality of the results. This study proposes methods based on the statistical analysis for the automatic processing of the spectral imaging data in two directions: the revealing of information that is obvious under visual observation and clustering of the spectral information. With regards to the automatic revealing of hidden information, the potential of principal component analysis (PCA) and independent principal analysis (ICA), two of the most commonly used statistical analysis methods, were examined giving very good results. In addition, the development of a new method for the automatic clustering of large scale spectral information based on the 'Self-organised mapping' (SOM) method is presented. The spectral feature of the analysed areas in the UV-VIS/NIR (400-900 nm) is indicative for its pigment composition, therefore the automatic clustering of the pixel-level spectral information that the PRISMS system provides can classify the areas according to their pigment composition. The application of statistical analysis methods in the preliminary stage of the analysis of large number of artworks (e.g. large painting collections) of large surface painting areas (e.g. murals) is of significant importance; as they highlight the areas that should be examined in detail. The multimodal non-invasive approach was applied on the examination of three artworks of significant importance for East Asian art history; the cave 465 of the Mogao complex in China, the export Chinese watercolor paintings from the collections of the Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum and the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) and the Selden map. The examination of these three works of art, in addition to providing a wide and heterogeneous sample for the detailed examination of the multi-modal approach, has also helped addressing several historical questions

A Comprehensive and Systematic Diagnostic Campaign for a New Acquisition of Contemporary Art—The Case of Natura Morta by Andreina Rosa (1924–2019) at the International Gallery of Modern Art Ca’ Pesaro, Venice

A multi-analytical approach has been employed to investigate the painting Natura Morta (1954–1955) by Andreina Rosa (1924–2019) to assess the state of conservation and to understand more about the painting materials and techniques of this artwork, which was recently donated by the painter’s heirs to the International Gallery of Modern Art Ca’ Pesaro (Venice-Italy). A comprehensive and systematic diagnostic campaign was carried out, mainly adopting non-invasive imaging and spectroscopic methods, such as technical photography, optical microscopy, Hyperspectral Imaging Spectroscopy (HIS), fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), External Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ER-FTIR), and Raman spectroscopies. Microsamples, collected from the edges of the canvas in areas partially detached, were studied by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). By crossing the information gained, it was possible to make inferences about the composition of the groundings and the painted layers, the state of conservation of the artwork, and the presence of degradation phenomena. Hence, the present study may be of interest for conservation purposes as well as for enhancing the artistic activity of Andreina Rosa. The final aim was to provide useful information for the Gallery which recently included this painting in its permanent collection

X-ray fluorescence applied to yellow pigments based on lead, tin and antimony: comparison of laboratory and portable instrumentation

X-ray fluorescence is a diagnostic approach particularly suited to be utilized in cultural heritage sector since it falls in the non-destructive and non-invasive analytical tools. However there are big differences between portable and laboratory instrumentation that make difficult to perform a comparison in terms of quality and reliability of the results. The present study is specifically addressed to investigate these differences in respect of the same analytical sample-set. To reach this goal a comparison was thus carried out between portable and bench top devices X-ray fluorescence devices and techniques were used on different type of yellow pigments based on lead, tin and antimony obtained in laboratory, reproducing the instructions described in “old” recipes, that is: i) mortar of lead and tin produced on the basis of the recipe 13 /c V of the “Manuscript of Danzica” and “ Li tre libri dell’arte del Vasaio” by Cipriano Piccolpasso; ii) two types of lead and tin yellow (Pb2SnO4 and PbSnO3) produced starting from the indications of the 272 and 273 recipes of the “Bolognese Manuscript”; iii) lead antimonate (Pb2Sb2O7) obtained by following the instructions of the Piccolpasso’s treatise and those contained on the “Istoria delle pitture in maiolica fatte in Pesaro e ne’ luoghi circonvicini di Giambattista Passeri” and finally iv) lead, tin and antimony yellow (Pb2SnSbO6,5) obtained starting from the information contained in the paper 30 R of “Manuscript of Danzica” [1]. The XRF analysis were performed using a laboratory instrumentation (Bruker M4 Tornado) and a handset analytical device (Assing Surface Monitor). In order to perform a significant statistical comparison among acquired and processed data, all the analyses have been carried out utilizing the same sample, the same acquisition set up and operative conditions. A chemometric approach, based on the utilization of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and multivariate analytical based tools [2], was utilized in order to verify the spectral differences, and related informative content, among the different produced yellow pigments. The multivariate approach on the results revealed instrumental differences between the two systems and allowed to compare the common characteristics of the set of pigments analyzed