Academic Materials Research Laboratory of Painted Artworks (ALMA)
| Department head: Hradil David, Mgr. Ph.D. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AreaAcademic Materials Research Laboratory of Painted Artworks (ALMA) has been systematically engaged into the scientific research of painted artworks and paintings in general across historical periods. In interdisciplinary cooperation with art and art-historical disciplines, it strives to deepen the knowledge of painting materials and techniques. The gained knowledge is integrated to a comprehensive assessment of work of art in terms of its origin, age, and authenticity. For these purposes, ALMA Laboratory uses approaches of modern chemistry, develops methods of non-invasive and non-destructive instrumental materials analysis and interprets the results in the context of history of painting and materials technology.The research activities of the laboratory are divided into three areas: Methodological research focuses on the development and innovation of analytical procedures with the aim of (i) reducing invasive interventions in the work of art (testing of non-invasive analytical methods, adapting laboratory methods for measuring smaller objects, etc.) and (ii) finding new ways of describing materials in a microscale and gain new information on their origin or processes of their changes (e.g. structural and mineralogical analysis by X-ray powder micro-diffraction). Provenance studies deal with issues of origin and regional provenance of artists’ pigments and other materials used by painters when creating an artwork. Its goal is to search for historical locations of their mining, to recognize and in many cases also to replicate various methods of their historical production. When searching for specific signs of origin, advanced methods of microsample preparation and targeted analyses, e.g. of crystal structures, trace elements or isotopes, are used. Research of degradation phenomena is a set of experimental activities focused on the chemical processes of aging and interactions of materials in paint layers. These interactions include the influence of both external factors (temperature, humidity, light, salts, etc.) and internal ones. Degradation can lead to color changes or threaten the cohesion of paint layers. A very serious degradation process is, for example, the interaction of fatty acids in organic binders (oil, eggs) and some pigments to form metal soaps. Using the latest scientific knowledge, the laboratory also conducts materials survey on painted artworks. Materials survey solves questions related to each individual artwork within the case studies, in close cooperation with other disciplines. In the scope of interdisciplinary research new scientific findings are applied to the practice and at the same time the laboratory receives feedback and formulates new questions, which are important to answer from viewpoints of practical conservation/restoration, art-historical evaluation or monument protection. Key scientific topics Provenance analysis of pigments and paintings (D. Hradil) Degradation of painting materials (S. Švarcová) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Members
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Projects
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FacilitiesPortable spectroscopic instruments for the in-situ analysis of paintings: FT-IR spectrometer ALPHA (Bruker) and Raman spectrometer i-Raman PRO with manual microscope (B&W Tek)Two powder X-ray difractometers PANalytical X’Pert for the phase analysis and structural characterization of pigments in reflection and transmission arrangements, and in micro-diffraction measuring mode (micro-pXRD) FT-IR microscope HYPERION 3000 (Bruker) equipped with high performance ATR objective, MCT detector and FPA detector for fast chemical imaging; microscope is coupled with VERTEX 70 spectrometer, which enable a conventional analysis of solid and liquid samples | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||