Research On The Aging Of Cementing Materials In Mural Adhesives

Understanding the original techniques in the creation of the artwork arises as a prerequisites for the selection of the most appropriate conservation project.This is particularly essential in wall painting where control of otential agents of deterioration and effientent monitoring are limited due to the scale of the painting and their exposure to uncontrollable envirnmental fluctuations.Analytical studies are increasingly focused on the investigation and study of degradation products of o rganic binders originally added in the paintings on a lime-based plaster ground.In the framework of IPERION-CH(Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure ON Cultural Heritage)project,a collaborative task is dedicated to obtain knowledge about original organic mat erials used in wall paintings by evaluating and comparing different innovative methodologies and conventi onal diagnostic techniques used for the investigation of markers related to alteration mechanisms and degra dation products.The non-invasive and microsampling methodology is first optimized on well-defined mode ls that have been designed to simulate different painting techniques with limewater and five organic binders in different relative proportions.Future investigations will focus on the application of the optimized metho dology on archaeological samples.In the present paper,preliminary results on a selected set of models,submitted in different stages of a well-established artificial ageing protocol,demonstrate the specific complementary input of each analytical technique included in the analytical approach(colour measurements,micro FTIR-ATR analyses in cross-se ctions,).The comparative evaluation and interpretation of the results is a step forward in the optimizatio n of the approach and in relating the analytical findings detected on the analysed samples to the original compounds and the possible changes for each group of binders(proteins / gums)due to degradation or inter action depending on the pigment / metal ion present.