Full Text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

As part of the study project of the pictorial cycle, attributed to Saturnino Gatti, in the church of San Panfilo at Villagrande di Tornimparte (AQ), image analyses were performed in order to document the general conservation conditions of the surfaces, and to map the different painting materials to be subsequently examined using spectroscopic techniques. To acquire the images, radiation sources, ranging from ultraviolet to near infrared, were used; analyses of ultraviolet fluorescence (UVF), infrared reflectography (IRR), infrared false colors (IRFC), and optical microscopy in visible light (OM) were carried out on all the panels of the mural painting of the apsidal conch. The Hypercolorimetric Multispectral Imaging (HMI) technique was also applied in selected areas of two panels. Due to the accurate calibration system, this technique is able to obtain high-precision colorimetric and reflectance measurements, which can be repeated for proper surface monitoring. The integrated analysis of the different wavelengths’ images—in particular, the ones processed in false colors—made it possible to distinguish the portions affected by retouching or repainting and to recover the legibility of some figures that showed chromatic alterations of the original pictorial layers. The IR reflectography, in addition to highlighting the portions that lost materials and were subject to non-original interventions, emphasized the presence of the underdrawing, which was detected using the spolvero technique. UVF photography led to a preliminary mapping of the organic and inorganic materials that exhibited characteristic induced fluorescence, such as a binder in correspondence with the original azurite painting or the wide use of white zinc in the retouched areas. The collected data made it possible to form a better iconographic interpretation. Moreover, it also enabled us to accurately select the areas to be investigated using spectroscopic analyses, both in situ and on micro-samples, in order to deepen our knowledge of the techniques used by the artist to create the original painting, and to detect subsequent interventions.

Details

Title
Materials and Technique: The First Look at Saturnino Gatti
Author
Bonizzoni, Letizia 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Caglio, Simone 2 ; Galli, Anna 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lanteri, Luca 3 ; Pelosi, Claudia 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Physics Aldo Pontremoli, University of Milano, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milano, Italy; [email protected] 
 Department of Material Science, University of Milano Bicocca, Via Cozzi 55, 20125 Milano, Italy; [email protected] 
 Department DEIM, University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università, 01100 Viterbo, Italy; [email protected] (L.L.); [email protected] (C.P.) 
First page
6842
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20763417
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2823981320
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.