Jeudi 7 juillet 2022 à 13 h 30
Sorbonne Université – INSP- 4 place Jussieu – 75005 Paris – Barre 22-23, 3e étage, salle 317
Emeline Pouyet – Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale à Sorbonne Université
Abstract
Reconstituting the processes and material artistic choices involved in the creation and evolution of a work of art is a long-standing scientific challenge in chemistry and material science. Works of art are dynamic systems, created using a wide variety of materials, that often exhibit heterogeneities at multiple length scales. Historical paintings in particular consist of a superposition of aged paint layers with specific hybrid formulations. Their study thus requires the use of various analytical techniques – to probe and image their intrinsic complexity at multiple length scale. The actual building of knowledge of the materiality of a painted artwork as a whole is a hot topic in the field. Recent advances in complementary in-situ/ benchtop / synchrotron spectroscopic and imaging methods (1D, 2D or 3D) will be presented to illustrate the chemical information that can be extracted from a work of art. This talk will propose most specifically to exploit the influence of the *interaction between painting layers and light to unravel the combined chemical and optical evolution of those paintings through time*, with the new and urgent aim to reconstruct their original aspects and propose adapted conservation strategy to preserve and document their original purpose.
