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Dr. Silvie Švarcová is a researcher and deputy head of the Academic Materials Research Laboratory of Painted Artworks (ALMA) at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a vice-chair of the Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage of IUCr. In her research, she focuses on study of degradation phenomena affecting appearance and stability of paintings (e.g., salt attacks or pigment-binder interactions) using SEM/EDS, XRPD, FTIR and other techniques. |
ABSTRACT
Microstructure of degradation products in painted artworks: from salt corrosion to saponification
Silvie Švarcová1*
1ALMA Laboratory, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Husinec 1001, 25068 Husinec-Řež, Czech Republic
The original appearance of paintings has been altering during their lifespan, reflecting the spontaneous changes of chemical and/or structural properties of painting materials or intentional later interventions (repaints, retouching). Besides acceptable patina caused by gradual natural aging of materials, severe degradation can occur, resulting in undesired changes of appearance or endangered stability of artworks. Thus, the recognition of degradation products is a crucial step to understand the processes of deterioration and it should be one of the main motivations of any detailed materials investigation of paintings besides the description of painting technique and the identification of hallmarks of provenance and dating. The microscopic observation and the microanalysis of the cross-sectioned minute samples taken from artworks is still an indisputable tool enabling to interrelate morphology and chemical composition of particular components as well as their localization within the paint layers’ sequence. Within the contribution, the examples of salt corrosion affecting the wall paintings or saponification affecting mainly the oil and/or tempera paintings will be discussed, emphasizing the morphological and structural features of corrosion products in microscale as well as the necessity of multi-analytical approach for their proper identification. The observed degradation in paintings will be discussed together with results of experimental studies.