Non-invasive contactless analysis of an early drawing by Raffaello Sanzio by means of optical methods. 2022

Diego Quintero Balbas, and Alice Dal Fovo, and Letizia Montalbano, and Raffaella Fontana, and Jana Striova
National Research Council-National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO), L.go E. Fermi 6, 50125, Florence, Italy.

Studying highly valuable and fragile Renaissance drawings requires a non-invasive contactless analytical approach. In this work, we study an early drawing by Raffaello Sanzio, one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance, realized during his stay in Florence (1504-1508). Our analyses aimed to reveal the features of the paper support significant for its dating, identify and map the drawing media to understand the artist's technical approach, and document the drawing condition with imaging and single-sited optical methods. Reflectance Vis-NIR multispectral imaging spectroscopy elaborated with False-Colour and Principal Component Analysis provided information about the paper support and the drawing media. Laser scanning micro-profilometry and Optical Coherence Tomography allowed revealing the superficial micro-scale features of the support. The chemical composition of the different drawing materials was characterized by μ-Raman spectroscopy, which provided also some evidence of the conservation history of the drawing. Integration of spectroscopic and imaging data shows that Raffaello used different dry drawing media (carbon-based and Pb stylus) to sketch the figure and then refined the details and shadows with iron-gall ink. The paper presents a methodological approach for the analytical examination of fragile paper artworks.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007558 Italy A country in southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia. The capital is Rome. Sardinia
D007854 Lead A soft, grayish metal with poisonous salts; atomic number 82, atomic weight 207.2, symbol Pb.
D001154 Art Processes and results of aesthetic expression. Arts
D013059 Spectrum Analysis, Raman Analysis of the intensity of Raman scattering of monochromatic light as a function of frequency of the scattered light. Raman Spectroscopy,Analysis, Raman Spectrum,Raman Optical Activity Spectroscopy,Raman Scattering,Raman Spectrum Analysis,Scattering, Raman,Spectroscopy, Raman
D041623 Tomography, Optical Coherence An imaging method using LASERS that is used for mapping subsurface structure. When a reflective site in the sample is at the same optical path length (coherence) as the reference mirror, the detector observes interference fringes. OCT Tomography,Optical Coherence Tomography,Coherence Tomography, Optical,Tomography, OCT

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