Instruments

blu

Tell me what blue you are and I’ll tell you when you were born (more or less)

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The recent discovery of YInMn Blue, even if the pigment is extremely expensive (€ 148.52 for 40ml), is a joy for artists – always among the first to welcome the new discoveries-, but also for art scientists!
In fact, the analysis of the type of pigment used has always been very useful for establishing the dating and provenance of a painting.
Lapis Lazuli, for example, is a medieval invention. Theophilus who wrote his treaty in 1120, does not mention it: his blue is azurite. While Cennino Cennini knows it well.
But the Lapis loses its purity in oil painting. Therefore it also loses part of its charm and its use reduced over time, as the new medium imposed itself.
However, outside Italy it was already very uncommon. Few, in fact, could afford it. One was Dürer, who however complained a lot about its price (100 times that of the other pigments)!
For centuries, the Azzurri remained luxury items. Smalt and Verditer blue were not expensive, but the only, mild, alternative to the shade of Lapis was Indigo.
The situation changed around 1705, when Prussian Blue was discovered. It had a great success, but it could still not really replace Lapis.
Although Cobalt Blue had been discovered in 1802, it was Goethe, incredibly, who suggested that as blue deposits were found in the Italian lime kilns, and perhaps some similar procedure could be studied to synthesize an artificial Lapis Lazuli.
In 1842, the Société d’Encouragement per l’Industrie Nationale offered a prize of 6,000 francs to whoever produced it first. Once a stable formulation was found, around, 1870 it became the standard blue color. Nevertheless, even if 1935 brought with it two new pigments: Monastral Blue and Manganese Blue, the perfect blue had not yet been invented.
The painter Yves Klein between 1945 and 1955 turned to a producer, convinced that they could do better. He thus patented the International Klein Blue, where, however, the real novelty is the binder. We now have the new YInMn Blue.

And the history of art continues to go hand in hand with that of technology.

(Anna  Pelagotti)
WhatsApp Image 2020-10-18 at 21.35.38 (1)

Tale of two copies and one thief (a Cardinal)

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When in 1507 the Raphael‘s Baglioni Altarpiece was placed on the altar of San Matteo in the Church of San Francesco al Prato, in Perugia, no one would ever have imagined that about 100 years later Cardinal Scipione Borghese would have craved its possession so much to commission its theft. Robbery that, following the riot of the Perugians, in a few days became a “voluntary donation” by the friars, immediately ratified by Scipione’s uncle, Pope Paul V.

At the time of the crime, in 1608 Raphael’s art, the Baglioni Altarpiece and the subject of the central altarpiece, “The Transport of Christ“, still enjoyed great fortune. Therefore, many copies had been made over the years.

Two of these are now preserved in the National Gallery of Umbria.

Although of the same size (184 × 176 cm), and equal to the original one, which is now in the collection of the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the Perugian copies were made at different times and on different media.

A copy on wood was made in 1554, when the original was still in its initial location, by Domenico Alfani, a friend of Raphael, in collaboration with his son Orazio. The panel was destined to the church of Sant’Agostino, also in Perugia.

The other copy, instead, on canvas, is attributed to Cavalier d’Arpino, and dated 1609, considering that it was commissioned by the cardinal to compensate the city for the deprivation of the original.

On both of these two copies, Art-Test Firenze performed with the Vis-IR scanner Infrared Reflectography on the entire surface. Thanks to the particular flexibility of the instrumentation, and to excellent coordination with the restorers and art historians of the National Gallery of Umbria, we were able to complete the works in just two consecutive days.

The reflectographic campaign, returning the image of the preparatory drawing, will be used by scholars to study the theme of “copies”, evaluating the methods of execution, through similarities and differences between them and with the original, that was also recently investigated and restored. All of this was to be on display at the exhibition, currently canceled for the closing period due to COVID19, entitled “The fortune of Raphael’s Pala Baglioni through its copies”. 

We hope it will be rescheduled soon!

(Emanuela Massa)

lubec

LuBeC 2019: the possible future of Culture: musea as metropolitan hub to resist against barbarism?

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Among fairs dedicated to cultural heritage, Lucca Cultural Heritage (LuBeC), now in its fifteenth edition, has found a specific place. Its original and original vocation is to participate in the debate between public administration and business and to generate concrete actions for a culture that produces not only economic but also social results.

The landscape of public cultural heritage management is inevitably changing and LuBeC focuses on this transformation in different areas.

The increasing digitization, with new tools and ways of management, is addressed in the “digitalization, archive and open data” area.

The reflections proposed in the other spaces, examine the need to adapt to this change and manage it in the best way, guaranteeing its economic, social and environmental sustainability and promoting public participation in cultural activities.

It becomes relevant to question how much the culture industry can be incisive on the economic and social balance of a city or how much making everything “usable” to tourists, especially in some places already saturated, won’t let citizen feel extraneous to their territory. This reflection inevitably binds the vision of a museum as a cultural hub and a center of social education and therefore a place in which to form the conscience of citizens. This, in particular, could be the mission of civic museums. The defense of the territory and its enhancement inexorably pass through the shared knowledge of its history. An objective that can be achieved using, for example, new tools such as gamification, which are appealing, especially for new generations.

All the themes proposed in this edition are also in line with the European Agenda for Culture. LuBec will thus contribute to the international debate on what are the synergies to be implemented to contribute to the smooth functioning of culture as a fundamental cog in gears of society.

The LuBec awaits us on 3 and 4 October. The program and info on inscriptions at this link: https://www.lubec.it/en/exhibiting-lubec-digital-technology.html

lubec
Which came first the egg (tempera) or the antependium?

Which came first the egg (tempera) or the antependium?

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How did polyptichs appear? Was the Byzantine Icon to move to the altar, or was it the antependium? Why from preparing the wooden panels with parchment and two layers of gesso, gilding became limited to frames? What are the roads followed by icons and art objects in their passage from East to West? How was the Platonic-Byzantine concept of the image received in Europe and how was it transferred into the more Aristotelian sphere of Western medieval culture?
“Paths to Europe, From Byzantium to the Low Countries”, edited by Bernard Coulie and Paul Dujardin, Silvana Editoriale, just published, 53rd  volume of the Biblioteca d’arte series, tries to answer some the these questions and it is also the summary of a conference held in BOZAR, Brussels in January 2015.
Inside the volume, the article “Under the Gold: a Database of Underdrawings and Material Analyses on Sienese Paintings. Connections and Dissimilarities in Painting Techniques across Centuries and Countries”, presents the peculiarities of Sienese paintings between the twelve and the fourteen centuries. Changes in style but also in the techniques and materials used, emerge from the analysis of the Art-Test database on IR reflectographies, X rays and chemical analyses on 100 paintings of Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena. The passage from the archetypical, not to be changed model of the Byzantine icon to a free hand spontaneous underdrawing, from the gold background imitating goldsmith and from the 7 colours of the Palatinus codex to the oneiric pinks of the Sienese paintings is illustrated. Presenting also how X rays can be studied to understand the function of a painting on wooden panel, the paper exemplifies how changes in style and the messages that the paintings were to convey are closely connected with the evolution of the techniques employed to physically make them.

Visi

No Photoshop, thanks! WIFS 2015

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Visi

During the “7th IEEE International Workshop on Information Forensics and Security (WIFS) 2015”, on November 19, a paper by L.Pronti, P. Ferrara, F.Uccheddu, A. Pelagotti and A.Piva entitled “Identification of pictorial materials by means of optimized multispectral reflectance image processing.” will be presented. The work relates to the analysis of the limits and the possibilities offered by multispectral imaging for a reliable identification of materials used in paintings, and stems from the increasingly active collaboration between the University of Florence, La Sapienza in Rome and Art-Test . The multispectral imaging is always a relevant topic, and an interesting non-invasive method, although recently abused by those who lack the necessary scientific basis. Art-test has been a pioneer of this field, with the paper  “Multispectral Imaging of Paintings: a Way to Material Identification” by A.Pelagotti, A. Del Mastio, A .de Rosa, A.Piva, , published in the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Special Issue on Cultural Heritage, vol. 25 n. 4 in July 2008. Since its start, Art-Test develops and applies cutting-edge scientific methods for artworks analysis and diagnostics. We do not use PhotoShop or similar commercial software. The results of our research are usually presented in relevant scientific publications, except when prevented by confidentiality reasons. If you are interested in the scientific methods used in our investigations, please check http://www.art-test.com/pubblicazioni/

Madonna

The latest publications to which Art-Test contributed:

  • V.Raimondi at alii, The use of IR-based techniques in the PRIMARTE project: an integrated approach to the diagnostics of the cultural heritage AITA 215- Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications – 29 Sept. – 2 Oct. 2015, Pisa, Italy, SPIE Remote Sensing 2015 -1 – 24 September 2015 – Toulouse, France AITA
  • V.Raimondi at al A multi-disciplinary study on a late 14th-century Florentine Chapel: integrating information, from laser-based measurements to archive historical data, in a multi-medial tools for cultural heritage conservation, LACONA X 2014 – Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks, 9-13 June 2014, Sharjah, UAE
  • F.Uccheddu, A.Pelagotti, V.Cappellini and E.Massa. 3D Technology for Measurement of Surface Deformations Paintings: A Case Study, Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2014) London, UK, 8-10 July 2014
  • F. Alberghina, M.F. Alberghina, L. Damiani, E. Massa, A. Pelagotti, L.Piccione, S. Schiavone, U. Copani, X-rays for diagnostic imaging of art -46 ° National Congress of the Italian Society of Medical Radiology (SIRM), Florence – Fortezza da Basso (22-25 May 2014) “The X-ray over the Medicine”
  • F.Alberghina, MFAlberghina, L.Damiani, E.Massa, A.Pelagotti, S. Schiavone, How many layers and of what? An integrated non-invasive approach for the understanding of painting’s stratigraphy, IV International Meeting “Youth in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage – YOCOCU”, 28 to 31 May 2014, Agsu – Azerbaijan.

 

Forthcoming:

  • The Pala del Carmine Santi di Tito, analysis of technique and materials used, Science and Technology for Cultural Heritage, Fabrizio Serra publisher, Pisa – Rome
  • The Rape of the Sabines by Giambologna and its restoration. And syllables, Livorno by Lia Brunori and Susanna Bracci
  • Beyond Gold: a database of underdrawings and material analyzes on Sienese paintings. Connections and dissimilarities of painting techniques across centuries and countries. Published by Bernard Coulie and Paul Dujardin
  • Above and below the painting: the results of scientific studies on the Madonna di San Luca in Bologna, curated by Dr. Franco Faranda
database_Siena_sito

Groundbreaking reference database in Siena built upon Art-Test scans and data

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Art-Test started just recently working in Siena, on this extensive database, after winning the public competition published by Sovrintendenza of Siena and Grosseto. The project includes the analyses of a selection of masterpieces, both currently exposed and in the deposits, some of which never tested before. A database of diagnostic data, Xrays, IR reflectographies, techniques and materials concerning 100 paintings from the Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena. The outcome will provide a reliable and scientific way of comparing materials and techniques employed by the different painters, schools and periods. An indispensable tool for those studying works of art of such period and/or by the same authors. A great help for authentication and attributions purposes.  It is the first time that such an ambitious project in this field sees the collaboration of public and private institutions.

database_Siena_sito

 

Multilayer

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A breakthrough exclusive technology (patented by Art-Test) that produces an image stratigraphy of the painting surface. A non-invasive method that allows to look underneath varnishes and retouches without the need to physically remove them. The ultimate solution for conservators and art historians!