Identification of colorants on XVIII century scientific hand‐coloured print volumes

Abstract

Two series of printed volumes, respectively, created in Parma and in Vienna at the end of XVIII century, were analysed in arder to characterise the palettes used in the hand-coloured miniatures and to determine whether decoration had been carried out simultaneously to, or shortly after, the ti me of printing. The application of complementary non-invasive analytical techniques allowed to yield a thorough knowledge of the colorants present and to determine that artists used a mixing of ancient, traditional materials such as cinnabar, minium or indigo, and materials of recent introduction in late XVIII century such as gamboge, Prussian blue or blue verditer. There was no evidence of colorants created successively to the age of printing, so that it can be conduded that decoration could have been done at the ti me of printing. Interesting is the use of metal pigments in the Vienna volumes, either in powder form and in foil form as a basis to obtain iridescence effects, a due to evaluate the great skillfulness of the artist. Among the colorants identified, particularly relevant is the identification of gamboge, a colorant almost exdusively used among Far Eastern Asian painters according to the literature; this fact suggests that information on the use of pictorial materials can be strongly updated by diagnostic analyses

Raman spectroscopy of minerals and mineral pigments in archaeometry

“…Worth of mention are several other investigations using additional techniques. [235][236][237][238][239] Iron oxides in admixture with azurite were revealed on Medieval and Renaissance Italian Manuscript Cuttings by Burgio et al [240] Daniilia and Andrikopoulos [241] investigated two full-page Byzantine miniatures and found lapis lazuli, cinnabar, orpiment, yellow ochre, hematite, green earth, carbon black and lead white. A deliberate use of pyrite and of black metallic bismuth as pigment is reported by Burgio et al [242] in a study of Bourdichon miniatures.…”

Recent advances in linear and nonlinear Raman spectroscopy. Part VII

“…Zannini and co‐workers identified colorants on 18th century scientific hand‐colored print volumes with Raman spectroscopy. Two series of printed volumes, respectively, created in Parma and in Vienna at the end of 18th century, were analyzed in order to characterize the palettes used in hand‐colored miniatures and to determine whether decoration had been carried out simultaneously to, or shortly after, the time of printing …”

Analysis of the pigments for smoked mural by confocal micro‐Raman spectroscopy

“…Before smoking, two broaden bands located at 1330 and 1580 cm −1 (Fig. a) are observed which are attributed to amorphous carbon . For all the smoked samples, these two bands are detected, and no additional Raman band is found.…”

“…3a) are observed which are attributed to amorphous carbon. [9,25] For all the smoked samples, these two bands are detected, and no additional Raman band is found. Therefore, it is deduced that amorphous carbon is the main component of smoke dust which is consistent with the result of the exutive fragments from the original mural.…”

“…Because of the precious cultural heritage, it needs a noninvasive and nondestructive approach to identify the pigments. Raman spectroscopic techniques as an analytical and diagnostic tool is becoming increasingly significant in the investigation of the artworks and antiquities, including medieval manuscripts, hand‐colored prints, ancient roman mortars, murals, prehistoric cave arts and canvas paintings . Particularly, for the pigments of the ancient treasures, the non‐destructivity techniques are applicable on site and have very good spatial resolution and imaging profile .…”