When dealing with modern and contemporary metal sculpture, it is common that artists choose to intentionally corrode and induce chemical modifications on the surfaces, in order to obtain special chromatic effects and emphasize lights and shadows. Recipes used to artificially patinate modern sculptures are the results of the artisan’s empirical experience and, for this reason, they are commonly kept secret or just partially revealed. In literature however, there are some studies that report reagents and procedures able to induce superficial patination in a way as similar as possible as artists would do [1,2]. Sometimes artists themselves are directly involved in the study and consulted to obtain reliable information about this topic [3]. In the present work, we propose a comparison between two different application procedures of some artistic patination recipes. These latter were selected considering the final chromatic appearance to be induced on the surface of bronze substrates. In particular, three different recipes to obtain respectively a green, a blue and a dark patina were considered and applied by immersion at 30° C and by brushing at high temperature. Differences in terms of morphological, chemical and mineralogical features between the two application procedures were investigated by means of a multi-analytical approach, involving optical microscopy (OM), electron scanning microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (FE-SEM-EDS), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). PRIN 2017249YEF is acknowledged for financial support. [1] Bongiorno, V., et al. Micro-Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of artistic patinas produced on copper-based alloys. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy. 2012, 43, 1617-1622. [2] Balta, I.Z., et al. Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on artistic bronze and copper artificial patinas. Applied Surface Science. 2009, 255, 6378-6385. [3] Crippa, M., et al. A Characterisation Study on Modern Bronze Sculpture: The Artistic Patinas of Nado Canuti. Studies in Conservation. 2018.
Morphological and minero-chemical comparison of artistic patination recipes applied by different procedures / Boccaccini, F.; Mancini, L.; Riccucci, C.; Pascucci, M.; Favero, G.; Di Carlo, G.. - (2022). (Intervento presentato al convegno 6th International congress on chemistry for cultural heritage, CHEMCH 2020 tenutosi a Ravenna; Italy).
Morphological and minero-chemical comparison of artistic patination recipes applied by different procedures
F. Boccaccini;G. Favero;
2022
Abstract
When dealing with modern and contemporary metal sculpture, it is common that artists choose to intentionally corrode and induce chemical modifications on the surfaces, in order to obtain special chromatic effects and emphasize lights and shadows. Recipes used to artificially patinate modern sculptures are the results of the artisan’s empirical experience and, for this reason, they are commonly kept secret or just partially revealed. In literature however, there are some studies that report reagents and procedures able to induce superficial patination in a way as similar as possible as artists would do [1,2]. Sometimes artists themselves are directly involved in the study and consulted to obtain reliable information about this topic [3]. In the present work, we propose a comparison between two different application procedures of some artistic patination recipes. These latter were selected considering the final chromatic appearance to be induced on the surface of bronze substrates. In particular, three different recipes to obtain respectively a green, a blue and a dark patina were considered and applied by immersion at 30° C and by brushing at high temperature. Differences in terms of morphological, chemical and mineralogical features between the two application procedures were investigated by means of a multi-analytical approach, involving optical microscopy (OM), electron scanning microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (FE-SEM-EDS), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). PRIN 2017249YEF is acknowledged for financial support. [1] Bongiorno, V., et al. Micro-Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of artistic patinas produced on copper-based alloys. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy. 2012, 43, 1617-1622. [2] Balta, I.Z., et al. Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on artistic bronze and copper artificial patinas. Applied Surface Science. 2009, 255, 6378-6385. [3] Crippa, M., et al. A Characterisation Study on Modern Bronze Sculpture: The Artistic Patinas of Nado Canuti. Studies in Conservation. 2018.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
