OPEN ACCESS
Cleaning old paintings has always been a major problem, because aqueous solutions may dissolve pigments. We succeeded in cleaning some precious old paintings of Siena using aqueous products. This success encourages us to clean a Lorenzetti masterpiece in the near future. The techniques used and a possible explanation of the surprising result are discussed in the light of recent insights into the physics of water.
cleaning with water, coherent water, interfacial water, Siena paintings
[1] Boskovits, M., Su Niccolò di Buonaccorso, Benedetto di Bindo e la Pittura Senese del primo Quattrocento, ed, Paragone, Sansoni: Firenze, Gennaio – Marzo, 1980.
[2] Torriti, P., La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. I Dipinti, ed. SAGEP: Genova, 1990.
[3] AAVV., La pittura in Italia. II Duecento e il Trecento, vol. II, ed, Electa: Milano, 1986.
[4] Muller, N.E., Three methods of modelling the Virgin’s mantle in early Italian painting. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 17(2), pp. 10–18, 1978. doi:10.2307/3179752 [5] Wolbers, R., Cleaning Painted surfaces: Aqueous Methods, Archetype Books: London, UK, 2000.
[6] Wolbers, R., Stavroudis, C. & Doherty, T., Approach to cleaning I; using mixtures of concentrated stock solutions and a database to arrive at an optimal aqueous cleaning system. Western Association for Art Conservation Newsletter, 27(2), pp. 17–28, 2005.
[7] Khandekar, N., A survey of the conservation literature relating to the development of aqueous gel cleaning on painted and varnished surfaces. Reviews in Conservation IIC, pp. 10–20, 2000.
[8] Tsang, J. & Erhardt, D., Current research on the effects of solvents and gelled and aqueous cleaning systems on oil paint films. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 31(1), pp. 87–94, 1992. doi:10.2307/3179615
[9] Bonifaccio, F., Duccio di Buoninsegna, Maestà di Massa Marittima. Indagini di laboratorio su 2 campioni di pellicola pittorica, Scientific Report, Altavilla Vicentina, 28/04/2003.
[10] Bonifaccio, F., Duccio di Buoninsegna. Madonna con Bambino tra Santi, Profeti e Angeli- Indagini di laboratorio su 4 campioni di pellicola pittorica. Scientific Report, Altavilla Vicentina, 28/04/2003.
[11] Spampinato, M., Analisi stratigrafica e chimica su campioni di colore prelevati da terracotta policroma raffigurante Madonna con Bambino, attribuita a Jacopo della Quercia – Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. Scientific Report, Lucca, 12/07/05.
[12] Zheng, J.M., Chin, W.C, Khijniak, E., Khijniak, E., Jr. & Pollack, G.H, Surfaces and interfacial water. Evidence that hydrophilic surfaces have long-range impact. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 127, pp. 19–27, 2006. doi:10.1016/j.cis.2006.07.002
[13] Pollack, G.H., Water, Energy and life: fresh views from the water’s edge. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 5(1), pp. 27–29, 2010.
[14] Del Giudice, E., Pulselli, R.M. & Tiezzi, E., Thermodynamics of irreversible processes and quantum field theory: an interplay for the understanding of ecosystem dynamics. Ecological Modelling, 220, pp. 1874–1879, 2009. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.04.035
[15] Marchettini, M., Del Giudice, E., Voeikov, V. & Tiezzi, E., Water: a Medium where dissipative structures are produced by a coherent dynamics. Biophysical Chemistry, submitted.
[16] Del Giudice, E. & Pulselli, R.M., Formation of dissipative structures in liquid water. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 5(1), pp. 21–26, 2010.