1,721,004 research outputs found
The Colours of Indigenous Memory: Non-invasive Analyses of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Codices
No full textThe article discusses the results and cultural-historical implications of a set of non-destructive chemical analyses recently carried out on some of the few extant pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican painted manuscripts. Such analyses, the first of their kind ever carried out on pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican codices, provide fresh and new information regarding the painting materials and techniques used by the ancient painters. The comparative perspective adopted in the discussion allows a first understanding of various indigenous technological traditions, whose detailed study has a great potential in terms of deepening our knowledge of the intellectual history of ancient Mesoamerica
Piero Manzoni, Achrome: An Initial Investigation into the Chemical and Technical Characterization of the Artist’s Materials
No full textIt is now accepted that Manzoni, through the absence of colour in his work, was seeking an absolute. In order to limit the artist's emotiveness and achieve the absence of sub- jectivity, he stopped his work a layer before the subjective layer par excellence, that of the painting. He stopped at the preparatory layer, presenting all the possibilities with a variety of materials, flat, light, covering, opaque and absorbent; even when they have character, the preparatory layers never dominate the “paint” above them, rather they accompany it, that is to say, they are neutral. Regarding the execution technique, in his writings Manzoni lists the mate- rials he has used in such an assertive and clear way that nobody questioned what he has affirmed. Traditionally, the Achromes are considered works that feature a white impasto in one of the tones which are catalogued to correspond to gesso and glue or kaolin and Vinavil® (the Italian trade name for polyvinyl acetate, also called white glue). So, from this point of view, the Achrome number 433 exam- ined in this work would belong to the first group. However, only very few studies, mainly on the occasions of maintenances or restorations, have been carried out to date on the materials effectively present in the works of Manzoni, with results that have not yet led to satis- factory answers on a series of questions which still remain open. These ques- tions regard: the intimate nature and composition of the various substances or mixtures used by the artist (starting from the Achromes); the modality of their application, including the use or not of pigments apart from kaolin or gesso; the reliability of the convention in which the gesso–glue or kaolin– Vinavil® pairings are adequate to define and comprehend these works; the modality of development of techniques through the years of the artist's short career. Such responses may only be provided by as extensive an examination as possible of groups of works, through the synergy of diverse instrumental analyses, following the mandatory protocol for the study of works of art, that implies first the exploitation of all the possible non-invasive techniques and then, only in a second instance, and whenever possible to take a micro- sample, an accurate examination to solve the problems still open, especially those related to stratigraphies
Non-invasive multi-technique investigation of artworks: A new tool for on-the-spot data documentation and analysis
No full textThe main advantage of a multi-technique non-invasive artwork investigations relies on the use of different spectroscopic techniques that give rise to complementary information. Despite the artworks complexity, this approach allows great insight into the artwork composition and alteration phases. However, difficulties arise from the great amount of heterogeneous interconnected data that has to be stored for a prompt analysis and preserved. A suitable tool to handle and analyse all the information on the fly is therefore crucial to optimize work, specially in in situ investigations. In this paper we present MOVIDA, a new tool for the data management and analysis of non-invasive investigations in the Cultural Heritage field that
not only allows the digital preservation of all the information and knowledge, but can also be used as an analytical tool while the investigation is being developed. The software can be installed on any computer to record, elaborate and analyse the data on-the-spot. All the data generated can be managed within
the same application and the information can be easily consulted, compared and related to the corresponding areas of the artwork. The software is self-comprehensive and user-friendly and can be used by all the professionals involved in the investigation and preservation of Cultural Heritage whatever their background and computer skills are
Neinvazivní analytické metody při průzkumu obrazů vídeňské školy konce 18. a v 19. Století (Study of late 18-19th century paintings of Viennese school by non-invasive analytical methods)
No full textResults of the analysis carried out in the mobile laboratory MOLAB (european infrastructure Eu-Artech): study of late 18-19th paintings of Viennese school by non-invasive analytical method
Modern Painted Palimpsests. Deciphering the Artworks of Osvaldo Licini
No full textScientific investigation of contemporary artworks by Licini and characterization of materials, by means of punctual techniques FT-NIR and mid-FTIR reflectance, and of imaging techniques XR photography and IR scanning multispectral imaging
“Art is not Science”: A Study of Materials and Techniques in Five of Enrico Baj’s Nuclear Paintings
No full textscience is not art, but science can be applied “to art” to understand the side of art “in shadow”, a sort of behind the scenes view that it is necessary to see in order to proceed with greater knowledge in the conservation of art- works. these first diagnostic analyses of Baj's early nuclear works provide useful information for better understanding the artist's technique, while at the same time leaving ample margin of doubt about several aspects of his creative process, a mystery that we like to think remains unfathomable about the meaning of art, despite its total visible manifestation: aesthetic phenom- enology as a vehicle for that spiritual dimension that Baj wished for man, in reaction to a growing rationalism and technophilia prevalent on the thresh- old of the third millennium
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Reflection infrared spectroscopy for the non-invasive in situ study of artists’ pigments
No full textThe potential of fibre optic reflection infrared spectroscopy for the non-invasive identification of artists’ pigments is presented. Sixteen different carbonate, sulphate and silicate-based pigments are taken into account considering their wide use during the history of art and their infrared optical properties. The infrared distortions mainly generated by the specular reflection are discussed on the basis of experimentalmeasurements carried out on reference samples. The study on pure materials permitted the definition of marker bands, mainly combination and overtone modes, enhanced by the diffuse reflection component of the light, functional for the non-invasive pigment identification in real artworks.
Several case studies are reported, including wall, easel, canvas
paintings and manuscripts from ancient to modern art
demonstrating the strengths of the technique on the identification
of pigments even in the presence of complex mixtures
of both organic (binders, varnishes) and inorganic (supports,
fillers and other pigments) compounds
A PRELIMINARY FTIR-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE SURFACTANT PHASE SEPARATION PROCESS IN CONTEMPORARY MURAL PAINTINGS
Full text linkThis paper reports on a preliminary evaluation of a degradation process that
may affect mural paintings created with emulsion products: the phase separation
of paint additives towards film-environment and film-support interfaces.
A number of mock-ups were prepared by brushing five acrylic, five
vinyl and five styrene-acrylic paints on cement-lime mortar supports. A
selection of these samples was stored under laboratory conditions to verify
the appearance of exudation phenomena, and to compare the stability of
paints having different chemical composition. Since water was suspected
to influence the phase separation process, the remaining samples were
deteriorated simulating the absorption of water into the mortar supports by
capillary rise mechanism. This degradation process forced the paint layers
to delaminate from the supports, allowing the exploration of the two interfaces
(the one in contact with mortar and the one exposed to the environment)
by mid-near FTIR reflection spectroscopy. According to the results,
capillary rise seemed to promote surface exudation of non-ionic polyethoxylate
type surfactants, but the process was also influenced by the
chemical composition and the properties of the paint layers. No water-soluble
paint components were detected at the film-support interface
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