Novel application of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry for the characterization of drying oils in art: Elucidation on the composition of original paint materials used by Edvard Munch (1863-1944)

Modern oil paints, introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, differ from those classically used in antiquity in their chemical and compositional features. The main ingredients were still traditional drying oils, often used in mixtures with less expensive oils and added with several classes of additives. Consequently, detailed lipid profiling, together with the study of lipid degradation processes, is essential for the knowledge and the conservation of paint materials used in modern and contemporary art.A multi-analytical approach based on mass spectrometry was used for the study of original paint materials from Munch's atelier, owned by the Munch Museum in Oslo. The results obtained in the analysis of paint tubes were compared with those obtained by characterizing a paint sample collected from one of the artist's sketches for the decoration of the Festival Hall of the University of Oslo (1909-1916).Py-GC/MS was used as screening method to evaluate the presence of lipid, proteic or polysaccaridic materials. GC/MS after hydrolysis and derivatization allowed us to determine the fatty acid profile of the paint tubes, and to evaluate the molecular changes associated to curing and ageing. The determination of the fatty acid profile is not conclusive for the characterization of complex mixtures of lipid materials, thus the characterization of the triglyceride profiles was performed using an analytical procedure based on HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF.This paper describes the first application of HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF for the acquisition of the triglyceride profile in a modern paint sample, showing the potentialities of liquid chromatography in the field of lipid characterization in modern paint materials. Moreover, our results highlighted that the application of this approach can contribute to address dating, authenticity and conservation issues relative to modern and contemporary artworks

Analysis of Munch's paintings by scanning multispctral infrared reflectography: Anxiety (1894), Puberty (1894) and Vampire (1895)

The contribution refers to an intervention presented by the authors (speaker: Mattia Patti) at the conference on painting techniques and conservation problems of Munch's paintings. The conference compared very different research experiences, conducted by art historians, restorers and comparing works who have the opportunity to work on Munch's works

Investigation of Materials used by Edvard Munch

The pigments and paint binders used by Edvard Munch have been investigated in several studies. Munch used a mixture of media in his works of art. The two versions of The Scream studied here were found to include oil paints and oil paints thickened with beeswax and also oil crayons containing beeswax and Japan wax, as well as casein pastels, a paraffin wax crayon and at least one gum-bound paint. His sketches on canvas make use of oil paints and tempera paints including egg and casein, as well as casein pastels in at least one instance. His oil paintings on canvas seem to have been executed using a more conventional technique, with most having one or a few paint layers bound with linseed oil on a ground formed from lead white in oil on top of a ground made of chalk in glue. Munch's palette is not extensive, though he was reasonably willing to introduce new materials, such as his use of a petroleum-based wax crayon in 1893, oil pastel - possibly as early as 1893 and certainly by 1910, and his use of cadmium red by 1927-1929. The identification of materials has informed conservators who are planning and carrying out conservation treatment

Materiali d'artista. L'atelier del pittore nell'Otto e Novecento

I materiali dagli atelier degli artisti dell\u2019Otto e Novecento, oggi conservati e spesso musealizzati, pongono questioni metodologiche. Tali oggetti possono essere utili strumenti di indagine tecnica sul fare dell\u2019artista nell\u2019Otto e Novecento, grazie a molteplici approcci possibili: la ricostruzione e mappatura degli oggetti, le informazioni fornite dallo studio delle fonti (carteggi, taccuini di artisti, trattati) e dei prodotti disponibili sul mercato, lo studio della rete di rapporti fra gli artisti e le case produttrici di colori, la rappresentazione coeva e l\u2019odierna catalogazione di tali materiali