6 research outputs found
Technical peculiarities in Giovanni Santi’s paintings on canvas
Get PDFGiovanni Santi (Colbordolo ca. 1439–Urbino 1494) was one of the most important painters
active in Urbino (Marche region, Italy) during the last decades of the fifteenth century,
where he was employed at the court of the celebrated Federico da Montefeltro. He
is known mainly as the father of Raphael, but he had a remarkable production of paintings,
especially on wood but also on canvas and on wall. This paper focuses on technical peculiarities
related to Santi’s paintings on canvas, including some practices that have not yet been noted
in relation to his panel paintings. In particular, two works painted on herringbone-weave linen
canvases were investigated: Tobias and the Archangel Raphael and Saint Roch (both dated ca.
1490–94), in the collection of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche. The results presented are a part
of a large research project based on noninvasive and micro-invasive investigations carried out
on twenty-eight works attributed to Giovanni Santi, only partially published in a recent exhibition
catalog dedicated to the artist (Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 2018). Black underdrawing, characterized
by a thinly applied network of close hatching for some of the shadows, was observed and,
regarding the different hues, a complex use of pigments. The binder detected is siccative oil, with
the addition of a large amount of transparent glass particles, which would have been added both
to give body to the pigment without using white fillers and to improve drying, a technique that
Santi presumably learned from the Flemish painter Justus van Ghent (act. Urbino ca. 1473–1475)
and something that he possibly transmitted to his son Raphael as a workshop practice. In fact,
Giovanni Santi’s workshop survived his death
La sinergia tra Università e impresa nel progetto architettonico, di restauro e miglioramento sismico di Palazzo Arcivescovile e Bongiovanni in Camerino
No full textNew Insight on Medieval Painting in Sicily: The Virgin <i>Hodegetria</i> Panel in Monreale Cathedral (Palermo, Italy)
Get PDFThe Virgin Hodegetria, located in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale, near Palermo (Italy), probably dating the first half of the 13th century, is one of the earliest examples of medieval panel painting in Sicily. A diagnostic campaign was carried out on the panel aiming to identify the constituting materials and the executive technique, as well as to assess the state of conservation for supporting the methodological choice of the restoration intervention. Both non-invasive (X-ray radiography, digital microscope, multispectral imaging, ED-X-ray fluorescence) and micro-invasive (polarised light microscopy, ESEM-EDX, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy) analyses were performed. According to the results, the executive technique followed the 13th–14th-century Italian painting tradition. A complex structure was applied on the wooden support, consisting of a double layer of canvas and several ground layers of gypsum and glue-based binder. The underdrawing was made by a brush using carbonaceous black pigment. The original palette includes red ochre, red lead, azurite, carbon black and bone black. During the several restorations, mercury-based red, indigo, smalt blue, orpiment and synthetic mars were used. The original silver leaf of the frame was covered with red tin-based lake and subsequently regilded with gold leaf. Proteinaceous and oil binders were also detected
Archaeometric research on decorated bricks of Tol-e Ajori monumental gate (6th century BC), Fars, Iran: New insight into the glazes
No full textThe archaeological excavations ongoing since 2011 at Tol-e Ajori – located 3.5 km NW of the Persepolis Terrace – discovered an Achaemenid monumental gate dating back to the second half of the 6th century BC. Thousands of glazed clay bricks, flat or in relief with decorative and figurative motifs, which are very similar to the bricks of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate, were unearthed from Tol-e Ajori. As the glazed surfaces of the bricks were seriously degraded, due to the long period of burial, a set of non-invasive investigations was first carried out to identify the original hues, also in situ, using digital microscopy, portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) and visible reflectance spectrometry (Vis-RS). Minute samples were also investigated by micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF), polarised light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (ESEM-EDS), and micro-Raman spec-troscopy. The occurrence of brizziite (sodium antimonate, NaSbO 3) and calcium antimonate (CaSb 2 O 6) as white opacifiers embedded in the lime-alkali glaze was evinced. Lead antimonate was also shown to be a yellow opacifier while cobalt and copper occur as colouring agents in the blue glazes. The greenish hues were obtained by mixing Cu 2+ with the yellow opacifier. These results are coherent with the general knowledge available on the Iron Age glaze production in the ancient Near East. Moreover, the iconographical and archaeological features suggested close ties between the glazed bricks from Tol-e Ajori monumental gate and the Ishtar Gate. We also considered the similarities and differences between glaze technology evidenced in Tol-e Ajori and important archaeological sites in Iran and Iraq. In addition, the source of Co in the glazes from Tol-e Ajori bricks and other Achaemenid glazed bricks from Susa and the Persepolis Terrace is discussed
Advances in characterization of colourful residues unearthed in Persepolis West craft zone using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques
No full textThe microstructure and chemical composition of blue and green pellets, coloured lump pigments and a metal scrap excavated in Persepolis West (Fars, Iran), by the Iranian-Italian Joint Archaeological Mission in Fars in 2008–09, were investigated to clarify their origin and production techniques. The Persepolis West urban area has its eastern limit about five hundred meters away from the Persepolis Terrace and extends for about 1 km in a westward direction. Due to the presence in this area of various kilns and other remains, the existence of a craft zone connected with the construction of imperial and élite buildings in Persepolis was proposed. The colourful residues were submitted to integrated investigations using portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, digital and polarized light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ATR-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The integrated analyses allowed to identify azurite, malachite, Egyptian blue, glauconite, yellow and red ochre with hematite, magnetite and goethite. Proteinaceous material was detected only in one red lump. These pigments are in accordance with the palette used to paint the palaces of the Persepolis Terrace, thus supporting the hypothesis that in Persepolis West craft zone, there was a laboratory for production of pigments. The microscopic features of the lumps and their peculiar shape confirmed a local manufacturing process. Moreover, the diopside presence related to the Egyptian blue production, as well as the discovery of a bronze scrap with a crust of Egyptian blue also suggested that this pigment was manufactured locally
