Piccirillo Anna

Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale

he modern concept of conservation requires respect for the paradigms of recognizability and possubility of re-intervention. the integration in the decoration in burnished gold leaf, beyond the aesthetic satisfactions it therefore presents practical difficulties. the study conducted aims to make the integration of the leaf identifiable and localized...

The formation of metal soaps or carboxylates in oil paintings is a widely studied topic. Expanding upon the extant research on the subject, this work investigates the formation of metal soaps as pertaining to alkyd-based media. Especially popular in modern and contemporary art, alkyd paints are complex commercial formulations mainly containing a po...

This paper presents the removal of a non-original varnish from the surface of a painting by Wassily Kandinsky based on prior experimentation carried out on mock-ups, which were made according to the original artistic technique and painting stratigraphy. Due to a generally serious state of conservation, the artwork underwent several treatments over...

Verdigris is one of the earliest synthetic pigments to be used in art, a semi-organic pigment dating back to classical antiquity. In most cases, two types of verdigris were produced: neutral and basic verdigris, of which the latter is the least reactive. Despite verdigris not being recommended for alkaline environment such as frescoes, some studies...

Laser cleaning of wall paintings is a conservation practice that has been adopted for decades. However, the increasingly widespread availability of laser technology highlights the need to optimize the choice of laser systems and, consequently, the parameters used on a case-by-case basis. An in-depth investigation of the role of each individual lase...

The present study provides new data on funerary practices performed during the Old Kingdom at Gebelein (Upper Egypt) through a multidisciplinary analysis of a complete wrapped body with painted face bandages (S16731), which we radiocarbon dated to the 4th dynasty. The painting was revealed by the innovative laser-based cleaning method that was used...

This article describes a multi-analytical technical study of a rare painted shroud still wrapped around a female Egyptian mummy (MCABo EG 1974) in the collection of the Museo Civico Archeologico of Bologna, Italy. Long stored in the museum’s warehouses, these mummified human remains were recently rediscovered within the Bologna Mummy Project (BOmp)...

Artifacts pertaining to Buddhist culture are often studied in relation to their circulation from India throughout the rest of Asia; however, many traveled to Europe during the last few centuries as trade commodities and pieces for the art market, losing any devotional purpose in favor of a specific aesthetic sensitivity that was typically adapted t...

The study and conservation of a painting by Wasily Kandinsky, titled Spitz‐Rund and dated to 1925, was carried out at the Centro per la Conservazione ed il Restauro dei Beni Culturali “La Venaria Reale” 2018 and 2021. This work, owned by the Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Bergamo (GAMeC), was created with oil paints on cardboard, and la...

Defendente Ferrari, one of the most important painters of the Piedmontese Renaissance, was extremely active in the early 16th century. His Madonna with Child and two Saints (1505–1510 ca.), which was originally located in the Collegiate Church of Carmagnola (Turin province, Italy) now in the collections of Palazzo Madama - Museo Civico d’Arte Antic...

The archaeological site of Adulis lays on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea and during Late antiquity played a significant role in interregional commerce among the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean coasts. Contacts with the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula and the Sasanian world have been attested from different classes of pottery...

The archaeological site of Adulis lays on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea and during Late antiquity played a significant role in interregional commerce among the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean coasts. Contacts with the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula and the Sasanian world have been attested from different classes of pottery...

This paper illustrates the results of the diagnostic campaign, the problems that emerged and the choices made during the 2019 intervention in the Alcova room of Palazzo Chiablese, paying particular attention to the phase of aesthetic restitution of the polychrome wooden lambriggio with panels dated to the second half of the 18th century. The radica...

Metal soaps formation is a well-known issue in oil paintings. Along the lifetime of the painting, carboxylic acids coming from drying oil (free fatty acids, acids from hydrolysis of triglycerides and from oxidation processes) can react with cations of some pigments (in particular, smalt, lead white and zinc white) forming the related carboxylic sal...

Wooden artefacts embrace wide-ranging types of objects, like paintings on panel, sculptures, musical instruments, and furniture. Generally, in the manufacturing process of an artwork, wood is firstly treated with organic and inorganic materials to make it nonporous and morphologically homogeneous, and, at last, the surface treatment consists of var...

El Monumento al siglo XX del escultor alemán Ulrich Rückriem fue vandalizado con una pintada durante el verano de 2018. Los estudios técnicos que informaron el diseño de la estrategia de intervención no solo indagaron en la composición, el pH y la conductividad de la pintada sino que también identificaron una Tg (temperatura de transición vítrea) a...

Il contributo intende illustrare l’approccio metodologico, gli esiti della campagna diagnostica e le soluzioni tecniche adottate per la pulitura di un grande dipinto a olio su tela, “Costruzione del viadotto”, realizzato nel 1913 dall’artista torinese Agostino Bosia, oggi proprietà della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo*. Studi recenti hanno...

In this study, it was evaluated the combined cleaning treatment based on laser ablation followed by the application of chemical products for removing alkyd graffiti paint from two different types of stone. Three different laser treatments (operated in Q-switched, long Q-switched and free short running modes) were applied to the stone samples. The b...

Nowadays, the research in conservation science is focused on developing advanced portable analytical techniques able to achieve subsurface data in situ and in a non‐invasive way. Micro‐spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (micro‐SORS) is an emerging analytical technique developed to address the need of non‐invasively retrieving the molecular composi...

The application of anti-graffiti products to stones belonging to architectural heritage is a common procedure that is currently complementary to traditional graffiti removal treatments, such as chemical and mechanical cleaning. In this study, two anti-graffiti coatings (a sacrificial product and a permanent one) were tested on four stones (with a d...

As the UN Agenda 2030 recognizes heritage protection in several goals, this research was focused on the improvement of the graffiti removal from stones. The cleaning of two graffiti paints with different composition (an alkyd- and an acrylic–based paints) from two stones (gneiss and travertine) was performed considering a synergistic approach based...

During the restoration process of a huge oil canvas (266 cm × 361 cm × 3 cm) by Agostino Bosia, a deep diagnostic campaign was carried out to characterize the original materials and those stratified over time. The activity was supported by the technologies available today in the field of conservation of the Cultural Heritage. Multispectral analyses...

In art conservation, UV luminescence is a widespread technique: traditionally, longwave UV-A lamps (365 nm-emission peaks) are used to highlight the distribution of varnishes or retouches, and some pigments such as the red lakes. Recently, a new method of luminescence has been tested, induced by a multispectral UV-Vis radiation source (11 narrow ba...

Two panels by Marco d'Oggiono – a painter who was active at the end of the 15th century in Leonardo's workshop in Milan – were investigated by Macro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and VNIR hyperspectral imaging. The paintings depict St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua, each presenting a devotee, and are part of the permanent collection of the Pin...

A new transportable apparatus for macro-X-ray fluorescence [1] and an innovative compact VNIR hyperspectral camera [2] were used to analyze selected areas of two panels by Marco D'Oggiono, who was mainly active in Milan (Italy) at the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci. These panels were part of a large polyptych, the so called "Polittico di Maleo", whi...

The formation and growth of metal soaps is of interest in heritage science, as soaps have been linked to a range of alteration and degradation phenomena potentially affecting works of art. However, current approaches detect metal soaps mainly in an invasive way or only at a late formation stage when the metal soaps are formed on the surface of the...

Cellulose acetate (CA) artefacts are an important part of modern and contemporary cultural heritage. A massive, yet completely unexplored, category of CA artworks is represented by the Olivetti's archival collection of original typeface drawings for typewriters. Olivetti's designers manually drew letters, punctuation marks, symbols and numbers on p...

Two panels by Marco d'Oggiono – a painter who was active at the end of the 15th century in Leonardo's workshop in Milan – were investigated by Macro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and VNIR hyperspectral imaging. The paintings depict St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua, each presenting a devotee, and are part of the permanent collection of the Pin...

Marco D'Oggiono was mainly active at the Duchy of Milano (Italy) and worked at the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, as documented by an autograph manuscript dated 1490 by Leonardo himself. The two panels considered here were originally part of a large polyptych, (the so called "Polittico di Maleo) consisting of ten panels painted for the Franciscan c...

The degradation process involving the formation of metal soaps in drying oils is a well-known problem due to the reaction of cations coming from pigments reacting with free fatty acids from the oil. A similar behavior has been observed during an experiment concerning the aging of different natural resins (shellac, dammar, and colophony) in the pres...

ABSTRACT Italiano: Le opere oggetto di restauro sono due dipinti su tavola eseguiti da Marco d'Oggiono a partire dal 1517-1518, originariamente parte di un polittico costituito da dieci tavole, realizzato per il convento francescano di Santa Maria delle Grazie presso Maleo (LO) e perciò definito "Polittico di Maleo". Oggi le opere, conservate press...

Nel settore dei beni culturali le tecniche di imaging, tra cui la radiografia X, la luce radente, la fluorescenza indotta da radiazione ultravioletta, l'infrarosso fotografico, quello riflettografico e l'infrarosso falso colore, sono comunemente impiegate per lo studio di manufatti artistici per seguire sia le fasi di documentazione che di diagnost...

Musical instrument coatings are generally made by multi-layered systems of organic and inorganic materials, applied on the wood substrate by the violin makers during the finishing process. This coating has paramount relevance for several aspects: protection from sweat and dirt, increase of specific acoustic features, and especially aesthetic effect...

In the last decades, scientific studies of historical musical instruments have provided relevant information about the materials used by the Masters of the past and their construction procedures. In particular, the development of non-invasive and micro-invasive analytical methods have given impetus to the instrumental detection of those materials e...

Studio delle opere di Vincenzo Venanzio Zolla attraverso la diagnostica e il restauro

Studio delle opere di Vincenzo Venanzio Zolla attraverso la diagnostica e il restauro

The classification and conservation of ancient artworks (belonging to collections) is of important cultural, historical, and economic concern. However, ancient textiles often display structural damage that renders them fragile and unsuitable for exhibition. One of the most common types of damage is linked to erroneous restoration treatments, among...

Historical bowed string instruments exhibit acoustic features and aesthetic appeal that are still considered inimitable. These characteristics seem to be in large part determined by the materials used in the ground and varnishing treatments after the assembly of the instrument. These finishing processes were kept secret by the violinmakers and the...

The conservation of artworks requires a profound knowledge about pictorial materials, their chemical and physical properties and their interaction and/or degradation processes. For this reason, pictorial materials databases are widely used to study and investigate cultural heritage. At Centre for Conservation and Restoration La Venaria Reale, we pr...

The formation, diffusion and aggregation of metal soaps in oil paint films is a well-known issue in conservation that affects not only the stability of oil paintings and oil polychromies in sculptures but also their aesthetic perception. From a scientific perspective, there are many questions still open regarding the carboxylate behaviour such as...

Oil polychromies on stone consist of oil paint mixtures applied on a natural aggregate of minerals. As an inorganic and reactive substrate as well as porous systems usually subjected to migration mechanisms of aqueous solutions and to ion leaching, stone substrates can promote specific reactions in oil paint films such as metal soap and other salt...

The degradation process involving the formation of metal soaps in drying oils is a well-known problem due to cations from pigments reacting with free fatty acids from the oil. The aggregation of these carboxylates in semi-crystalline structures can lead to eruptions through the paint layers and ‘blooming’ on the surface. In this work, the metal soa...

The stability and degradation behavior of natural resins have been investigated by many authors for their important role in conservation chemistry but resin compositions and related degradation issues are not completely understood. In particular, shellac and its interaction with conservation materials during the ageing processes is still almost uni...

The 1915 Giacomo Balla painting Grido dimostrazione in piazza del Quirinale has been studied in detail to investigate the artist's materials. Radiographic analysis revealed the presence of a previous work underneath and thus the existence of a complex stratification of paint layers that make the data interpretation both complex and interesting. Pig...

The study of polished cross sections is a well-assessed and practical method to investigate the stratigraphy of paintings and multilayer polychromies on works of art, in general. Analyses on cross sections allow us to characterize, at once, all the layers in the stratigraphy, giving information about the artists technique, the number of layers and...

Mid-IR fiber-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) is a totally noninvasive infrared analytical technique allowing the investigation of artworks without the need for any sampling. The development and optimization of this analytical methodology can provide a tool that is capable of supporting conservators during the first steps of their intervention...

We report a cleaning optimisation study aimed at solving the conservation problem of the medieval wall painting cycles discovered in the Castle of Quart, Aosta Valley. The paint layers were almost completely covered by whitewash and organic layers applied in the past. Cleaning tests and associated material characterisations provided evidences that...

The characterisation of siccative oils (drying oils used in paint media) by gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry using three derivatisation methods has been investigated and the differences in results discussed. The classic off-line derivatisation method with (trimethyl)silyldiazomethane has been compared with two alternative methods. The first inv...