Email: vittoria.guglielmi@unimi.it
Keywords: Analytical Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Cultural Heritage
During the last decades, historical and archaeological research related to cultural heritage has taken advantage of suitable scientific methods, especially of analytical and spectroscopic techniques devoted to the identification of chemical-physical characteristics of materials. Indeed, the development and application of specific techniques have been the main importance for interdisciplinary studies of humanities and applied sciences, especially for the possibility of exploiting those methods for the characterisation of artwork materials and archaeological finds.
The study of chemical-physical properties of dyes and pigments as well as binders, ceramic bodies, degradation products and other materials, and their identification in objects of artistic and archaeological origin are the main interest for a deeper insight of artwork itself and of its intrinsic worth. Furthermore, the outcomes could be extremely interesting and useful in humanities since they can be related to social and historical contexts.
One of the more significant features of modern analytical instrumental methods in their application to cultural heritage studies is that a great number of those techniques are now applicable in-situ, i.e., directly on art objects, without the need for sampling. Also, the development of portable and non-invasive analytical instruments permits researchers to perform investigations on artwork located in their habitual sites, and this is a breakthrough in the scope of cultural heritage characterisation. In this work, some case studies will be discussed. The spotlight will be especially directed on the accomplishments of portable Raman, FTIR and visible reflectance spectroscopies in pigments and organic binders identification.
References
[1] Guglielmi V., Andreoli M., Comite V., Baroni A., Fermo P., The combined use of SEM-EDX, Raman, ATR-FTIR and visible reflectance techniques for the characterisation of Roman wall painting pigments from Monte d’Oro area (Rome): an insight into red, yellow and pink shades, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29 (20), (2022) 29419–29437.
[2] Guglielmi V., Comite, V., Andreoli, M., Demartin, F., Lombardi, C.A., Fermo, P., Pigments on Roman Wall Painting and Stucco Fragments from the Monte d’Oro Area (Rome): A Multi-Technique Approach. Appl. Sci. 10 (2020) 7121-7139.
[3] Bruni S., Guglielmi V., Della Foglia E., Castoldi M., Bagnasco G., A non-destructive spectroscopic study of the decoration of archaeological pottery: from matt-painted bichrome ceramic sherds (southern Italy, VIII-VII B.C.) to an intact Etruscan cinerary urn, Spectrochim Acta A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 191 (2018) 88-97.
[4] Bonizzoni L., Bruni S., Gargano M., Guglielmi V., Zaffino C., Pezzotta A., Pilato A., Auricchio T., Delvaux L., Ludwig N., “Use of integrated non-invasive analyses for pigment characterisation and indirect dating of old restorations on one Egyptian coffin of the XXI dynasty”. Microchem. J., 138 (2018) 122-131. [5] [5] Zaffino C., Guglielmi V., Faraone S., Vinaccia A., Bruni S., Exploiting external reflection FTIR spectroscopy for the in-situ identification of pigments and binders in illuminated manuscripts. Brochantite and posnjakite as a case study, Spectrochim. Acta A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc.,136 Part B (2015) 1076-1085.