Chemical Investigation of Ageing in Binding Media

The chemical identification of inorganic and organic materials used in works of art provides both art historians as well as conservation scientists with important information in order to gain a better knowledge of the techniques used by the artists and to study the provenance or authentication of an artifact. A big variety of natural organic materials, including proteins, resins, drying oils and waxes has been used as binding media, adhesive for fillings and other purposes producing works of art. Their complex chemical composition, their natural variation of contents and their alteration due to environmental influences as well as the limited amount of sample material usually available for an analysis represents a challenge for modern analytical chemistry including sampling, sample preparation and the choice of the analysis technique. In order to enable conservation treatments for works of art, which are best suited to specific problems, the understanding of the chemistry of the degradation process is of main importance. In co-operation with the Conservation Science Department at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, the Analytical Chemistry Division at the Institute for Chemical Technologies and Analytics at the Vienna University of Technology and the Institute of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies in Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna it is intended to set up a network for studying alteration and degradation processes in organic binding media. Methods employed will be gas chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as well as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). Therefore, samples of drying oils, resins, animal glues and waxes, as well as their mixtures, which were allowed to age under varying conditions (light, temperature and relative humidity) will be analysed. Investigations will also cover the influence of pigments, which have a big effect on the alteration process. The combination of mass- and infrared-spectroscopic techniques enables the identification of degradation products as well as the chronological process of the oxidation. The aim of these investigations includes the investigation of autooxidation processes as well as the development of methods of their prevention. Libraries of chromatograms, mass-spectra and FTIR- spectra of fresh, artificially aged and old natural binding media will be built up and will give museums all over the world an improved and powerful tool to study valuable art works.

The chemical identification of inorganic and organic materials used in works of art provides both art historians as well as conservation scientists with important information in order to gain a better knowledge of the techniques used by the artists and to study the provenance or authentication of an artifact. A big variety of natural organic materials, including proteins, resins, drying oils and waxes has been used as binding media, adhesive for fillings and other purposes producing works of art. Their complex chemical composition, their natural variation of contents and their alteration due to environmental influences as well as the limited amount of sample material usually available for an analysis represents a challenge for modern analytical chemistry including sampling, sample preparation and the choice of the analysis technique. In order to enable conservation treatments for works of art, which are best suited to specific problems, the understanding of the chemistry of the degradation process is of main importance. In co-operation with the Conservation Science Department at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, the Analytical Chemistry Division at the Institute for Chemical Technologies and Analytics at the Vienna University of Technology and the Institute of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies in Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna it is intended to set up a network for studying alteration and degradation processes in organic binding media. Methods employed will be gas chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as well as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). Therefore, samples of drying oils, resins, animal glues and waxes, as well as their mixtures, which were allowed to age under varying conditions (light, temperature and relative humidity) will be analysed. Investigations will also cover the influence of pigments, which have a big effect on the alteration process. The combination of mass- and infrared-spectroscopic techniques enables the identification of degradation products as well as the chronological process of the oxidation. The aim of these investigations includes the investigation of autooxidation processes as well as the development of methods of their prevention. Libraries of chromatograms, mass-spectra and FTIR- spectra of fresh, artificially aged and old natural binding media will be built up and will give museums all over the world an improved and powerful tool to study valuable art works.