https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04330-5
Regular Article
Chemical imaging of alligatoring oil paintings
1
Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
2
LAQV-REQUIMTE, Faculdade Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
3
Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, LAMS, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
4
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), 71 Avenue Des Martyrs, 38000, Grenoble, France
h
laurence.de_viguerie@upmc.fr
Received:
17
October
2022
Accepted:
29
July
2023
Published online:
8
September
2023
The so-called “Alligatoring” paint deterioration phenomenon was investigated through the study of four samples from O Cardeal D. Henrique recebendo a notícia da morte de D. Sebastião, painted in 1861 by the Portuguese painter Marciano Henriques da Silva. Attenuated total internal reflection Fourier transform infrared microscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging, complementary to scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, were used to tackle the complexity of such paint systems and locate the distribution of organic/inorganic/hybrid components in the paint layers stratigraphy. While the use of asphalt/bitumen commonly associated with this peculiar paint deterioration was hypothesized, its presence could not be confirmed nor denied with the methodological approach proposed. However, specific chemical compounds and paint layer structures were identified, both related to strong drying issues of the paint system. Most specifically, the evidence of a stable lead azelate layer together with lead and aluminium carboxylates present in all paint layers, combined with a paint technique with numerous paint layer superimposed and an excess of oil in the paint system can be pointed out as clues in the understanding of the degradation mechanisms.
Raquel Marques and Caroline Bouvier have contributed equally to this work.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04330-5.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
