Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content
The two paintings Infant Bacchanals (Museo Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy) executed by Nicolas Poussin (Les Andelys, 1594-Rome, 1665) in around 1626 are thought to have been painted "a guazzo", which... more
The two paintings Infant Bacchanals (Museo Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy) executed by Nicolas Poussin (Les Andelys, 1594-Rome, 1665) in around 1626 are thought to have been painted "a guazzo", which means either with a glue or with an egg binding medium. To date, this has never been confirmed through analysis. Dual-beam time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), using a bismuth cluster liquid metal ion gun and an argon gas cluster ion beam, allows the mapping of organic and inorganic matter on paintings cross sections, with the possibility to acquire submicrometer-resolution mass spectrometry images of the sample, together with high mass resolution using a delayed extraction of secondary ions. The surfaces of cross sections from both paintings were prepared beforehand either by polishing or by microtome cutting and then cleaned with the gas cluster ion beam directly inside the vacuum chamber of the instrument. The nature of the...
The material evidence for the wax finish on ancient marble statues, known as ganosis, is scarce and controversial, although Greek and Latin sources describe the recipes and cultural value of this treatment. The surface treatment of a... more
The material evidence for the wax finish on ancient marble statues, known as ganosis, is scarce and controversial, although Greek and Latin sources describe the recipes and cultural value of this treatment. The surface treatment of a colossal Roman head from the Roman theatre of Dougga (Tunisia), dated to the end of the second century CE, is studied by a multi-analytical protocol (video-microscope, cross section, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry of one sample). The results of this physico-chemical analysis and the comparison with ancient recipes, prove the use of ganosis on a Roman statue and explore, for the first time, the application of the recipes described in ancient sources. This result shows the potential of the Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry analysis, detecting at the same time organic and inorganic materials and their stratigraphy, to study the ancient recipes.
The material evidence for the wax finish on ancient marble statues, known as ganosis, is scarce and controversial, although Greek and Latin sources describe the recipes and cultural value of this treatment. The surface treatment of a... more
The material evidence for the wax finish on ancient marble statues, known as ganosis, is scarce and controversial, although Greek and Latin sources describe the recipes and cultural value of this treatment. The surface treatment of a colossal Roman head from the Roman theatre of Dougga (Tunisia), dated to the end of the second century CE, is studied by a multi-analytical protocol (video-microscope, cross section, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry of one sample). The results of this physico-chemical analysis and the comparison with ancient recipes, prove the use of ganosis on a Roman statue and explore, for the first time, the application of the recipes described in ancient sources. This result shows the potential of the Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry analysis, detecting at the same time organic and inorganic materials and their stratigraphy, to study the ancient recipes.