Investigations of the relics and altar materials relating to the apostles St James and St Philip at the Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli in Rome

Rasmussen, Kaare Lund; Plicht, Johannes van der; Nasa, Jacopo La; Ribercini, Erika; Colombini, Maria Perla; Delbey, Thomas; Skytte, Lilian; Schiavone, Simone; Kjær, Ulla; Grinder-Hansen, Poul; Lanzillotta, Lautaro Roig

doi:10.1186/s40494-021-00481-9

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Due to possible deviations from the ideal stoichiometric compositions the data produced should likely be considered semi-quantitative rather than fully quantitative. Further details of the LA-ICP-MS methodology have been published elsewhere [30][31][32][33].…”

Section: La-icp-ms Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyses of the brown stain on the Parthenon Centaur head in Denmark

Rasmussen,

Delbey

et al. 2024

Herit Sci

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In 1688 two sculptural fragments, a head of bearded man and a head of an unbearded youth, arrived in Copenhagen, sent from Athens as a gift to King Christian 5. They were placed in the Royal Kunstkammer, their provenance given as the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Almost a hundred and fifty years later, in the early 1820’s they were noticed and studied by two scholars independently visiting the Kunstkammer. However, both concluded that the two heads belonged to one of the metopes decorating the south side of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens, showing fighting between Greeks and the mythical Centaurs, part man and part horse. In the 1830’s another sculptural fragment, a horse’s hoof, obtained through the German archaeologist and state antiquary of Greece, Ludwig Ross, reached Copenhagen. It was forwarded by the Danish consul to Athens, C.T. Falbe, as a gift to King Christian 8. The inventory reads: ‘… was found on the Acropolis near the Parthenon temple and is supposed to belong to one the Centaurs on the metopes.’ The present paper focuses solely on the head of the Centaur.A brown stain was noticed on the Parthenon marbles as early as 1830 by the British Museum and has ever since eluded a deeper understanding of its genesis despite many investigations and attempts of analyses. A quite similar brown stain can be observed on the Centaur’s head in Copenhagen as well.The present study reports analyses by LA-ICP-MS, SEM–EDX, µXRD, GC–MS, and LC–MS-MS, as well as optical microscopy of five small samples sequestered in 1999 from the Centaur head curated by the National Museum of Denmark. Our analyses show that the brown stain consists of two consecutively added surficial layers of the calcium oxalate minerals whewellite and weddellite. Despite a thorough search using proteomics, we have found no viable organic precursor material for the oxalates. Our results do not solve the mystery of the formation of the brown stain, but they do further qualify the structure and characterization of the brown stain.

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Section: La-icp-ms Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyses of the brown stain on the Parthenon Centaur head in Denmark

Rasmussen,

Delbey

et al. 2024

Herit Sci

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“…A study could be planned to establish the age of the specimens, the gender, the possible diseases, and the presence and degree of osteoporosis. For this purpose, the bones could be subjected to (i) microphotography of all samples; (ii) computed tomography (CT); (iii) dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) 77 ; (iv) near‐infrared spectroscopy for gauging the collagen content 78 ; (v) if authorized, radiocarbon dating 79 ; (vi) if authorized, ancient DNA analysis 80 ; (vii) if authorized, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) 81 performed for establishing or unraveling diet and social status of the deaths and finding trace elements of Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Sr, Ba, and Pb. Note that methods of the points (i)–(iv) do not need destruction of the samples, while methods (v)–(vii) are based on the destruction of micro‐fragments of the specimens, that is, about 1–2 mm (roughly, 1–40 mg), for each examination.…”

Section: Solution To the Abelardian Quandarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Castration and emasculation in the Middle Age. The andrological conundrum of Peter Abelard

et al. 2022

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Peter Abelard (1079-1142) is still considered one of the giants of philosophy, theology, and psychology, and the unsurpassed master of dialectical debate. Born in Le Pallet, near Nantes, Abelard became an academic and wandering cleric of great fame, founder of several schools that attracted students from all countries, arousing the admiration of his contemporaries and the profound envy of his colleagues. Around 1115, Abelard became master of the school of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Shortly after, the canon Fulbert asked him to take his niece, the equally famous and highly cultured Héloïse d'Argenteuil (1092-1164), as a pupil. Thus a relationship began, celebrated for centuries to come, characterized by burning sexual and intellectual passion, by the famous correspondence, which will be the archetype of sentimental education and the template of romantic love letters, bythe birth of a son and consequent marriage, and by the cowardly revenge of Fulbert, who, together with a band of servants, mutilated "those parts of my body with which I had done what was the cause of their pain," as Abelard wrote. While this unclear self-description has suggested to contemporaries and to posterity that Abelard was castrated, we aim to question this belief by analyzing in-depth this historical-andrological clinical case to understand if there is any evidence that could suggest that Abelard was instead the victim of an even more brutal punishment: penectomy. Signs and symptoms gleaned from the personal writings and historical perspectives of Abelard and his time are used here to provide a possible answer to a thousand-year-old question: what makes a man . . . a man?

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“…Gas blank values were subtracted. The quantification was performed with a method using direct ratios to count rates of the standard similar to those of Golitko and Terrell (2012) and Rasmussen et al (2021) [28,29]. The NIST612 standard was run before and after batches of three samples in order to monitor the stability of the beam and to act as a standard.…”

Section: Sample's Namementioning

confidence: 99%

“…10% is estimated from these measurements mostly due to mineral heterogeneity of the samples. The following isotopes were analysed for: 29 Si, 44 Ca, 49 Ti, 52 Cr, 55 Mn, 57 Fe, 59 Co, 60 Ni, 65 Cu, 75 As, 85 Rb, 88 Sr, 107 Ag, 111 Cd, 121 Sb, 197 Au, 205 Tl, 208 Pb, 232 Th and 238 U.…”

Section: Sample's Namementioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into Della Robbia’s Terracotta Monument to Cardinal Federighi: Raw Materials and Technologies

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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The present work comprises the application of a multi-analytical strategy based on the combination of several non-destructive and micro-invasive methodologies for the examination of the glazed tiles from the tomb of Benozzo Federighi made by Luca della Robbia. The marble tomb is framed by flat glazed terracotta tiles, each ornamented with naturalistically depicted flowers. The tiles are assembled like an “opus sectile” and their background is gilded. The leaf is incorporated on the top of the glaze, differently by traditional gilding technique as in previous glazed works of della Robbia. The identification methodology integrates the results from spot analyses such as UV-vis reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence, with those obtained on tiny samples by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopic observations, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and firing temperature analysis. The adopted analytical protocol allowed us to clarify peculiarities of the artist’s technique and of the manufacturing technology used to create the terracotta and gilded glazed tiles. The terracotta body shows main phases related with Ca-rich ceramic body and the glaze results Pb-based and additioned with Sn as an opacifier. Co, Pb-Sb and Cu were identified as glazes colouring agents. The hypothesis on the use of the “third firing” technique for gilding tiles is explored in the text.

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Investigations of the relics and altar materials relating to the apostles St James and St Philip at the Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli in Rome

Cited by 8 publications

References 58 publications

Analyses of the brown stain on the Parthenon Centaur head in Denmark

Analyses of the brown stain on the Parthenon Centaur head in Denmark

Castration and emasculation in the Middle Age. The andrological conundrum of Peter Abelard

Insights into Della Robbia’s Terracotta Monument to Cardinal Federighi: Raw Materials and Technologies

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