Difference between revisions of "Bring To the Light Art Conservation"
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== Preamble== | == Preamble== | ||
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| + | As eloquently summarized by Vincenzo Balzani and Franco Scandola, light is made of photons, and photons are, at the same time, energy quanta and information bits [1]. This duality in the interaction of light with matter is also present in the conservation of cultural heritage. Light as a bit of information provides materials characterization. As a bit, it may reveal a hidden millenary dye or assess the stability of a 20th-century artistic paint. On the other hand, light as energy may be the cause of degradation of the same beautiful dye and of the paint binder, enhancing the decay of many masterpieces worldwide. | ||
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| + | ==Studies in ancient natural dyes and color paints== | ||
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| + | Natural dyes, discovered through the ingenuity and persistence of our ancestors may be found hidden in such diverse places as the roots of a plant, a parasitic insect, and the secretions of a sea snail. In art, natural dyes were used to color a textile or to paint [4]. | ||
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| + | To be used as a ''color paint'', for example, to create a medieval illumination on a sheet of parchment, colors ours were "tempered" (mixed) with protein binders like glair (egg white), parchment glue (collagen) or even egg yolk [2, 3]. The longevity of a formulation depends not just on the binder, but also on the additives that i) improve the paint application and ii) make it resistant to decay and give it a greater ability to adapt to mechanical stress. The ''binding medium'' is the “invisible component” of a paint, but if the binders fail, so will the colors. | ||
Revision as of 23:07, 11 November 2017
Contributions of Photochemistry for a Better Understanding of Cultural Heritage and its Preservation
1 Preamble
As eloquently summarized by Vincenzo Balzani and Franco Scandola, light is made of photons, and photons are, at the same time, energy quanta and information bits [1]. This duality in the interaction of light with matter is also present in the conservation of cultural heritage. Light as a bit of information provides materials characterization. As a bit, it may reveal a hidden millenary dye or assess the stability of a 20th-century artistic paint. On the other hand, light as energy may be the cause of degradation of the same beautiful dye and of the paint binder, enhancing the decay of many masterpieces worldwide.
2 Studies in ancient natural dyes and color paints
Natural dyes, discovered through the ingenuity and persistence of our ancestors may be found hidden in such diverse places as the roots of a plant, a parasitic insect, and the secretions of a sea snail. In art, natural dyes were used to color a textile or to paint [4].
To be used as a color paint, for example, to create a medieval illumination on a sheet of parchment, colors ours were "tempered" (mixed) with protein binders like glair (egg white), parchment glue (collagen) or even egg yolk [2, 3]. The longevity of a formulation depends not just on the binder, but also on the additives that i) improve the paint application and ii) make it resistant to decay and give it a greater ability to adapt to mechanical stress. The binding medium is the “invisible component” of a paint, but if the binders fail, so will the colors.
