Portable Raman and XRF analyses of pigments in a 15th-century Mallorcan altarpiece from the Oratorio de Santa Ana in Alcúdia, Spain. (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Walters, Valerie A.; de Paula, Julio C.; Bard, Ronda S.; Bard, Raymond R.; González-Montiel, Gisela A.; Cornejo Ochoa, Cesar; Matheson, Triona; Olson, Justin; Nguyen, Anthony; Ile, David; Hicks, Anna K.; Gushtyuk, Elizabeth; Foronda, Matthew; Chávez Álvarez, Esther; Cau Ontiveros, Miguel Ángel
• Is Part Of: Journal of archaeological science. Volume 43(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: Late Gothic Mallorcan painting -- 15th-century Spanish altarpiece -- Portable Raman -- Portable X-ray fluorescence -- Pigments -- Gilded background -- Calcium sulfate-based ground layer; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Research -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103442
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-409X

Abstract

Highlights: A late Gothic Mallorcan altarpiece was analyzed in situ by XRF and Raman. Historical and anachronistic pigments were identified. Calcium sulfate, as gypsum or anhydrite, was identified in the ground layer of the 15th-century Spanish panel paintings. Gold was identified in the expansive gold-colored background of the triptych. Calcium oxalate and anglesite degradation products were identified. Abstract: To identify pigments used in a Mallorcan Gothic painting and to investigate their provenance, portable Raman and X-ray fluorescence spectrometers were used to examine in situ the 15th-century Retablo de la Virgen, san Sebastián y san Bernardino, formerly an altarpiece in the Oratorio de Santa Ana in Alcúdia, Spain. The historical pigments vermilion, ultramarine, lead white, orpiment, and hematite were found in pigmented surface layers of the altarpiece, and the elements gold and iron were detected in the expansive gold-colored background areas of the triptych. Two relatively modern pigments, phthalocyanine green and lithopone, were found in a portion of the first small painting in the predella underneath the triptych suggesting a restoration sometime after the late 1930s. Calcium sulfate, as gypsum or anhydrite, was found in the preparation ground layer, as expected for late medieval Mallorcan panel paintings. Known degradation products, weddellite and possibly whewellite, were found. Anglesite was found in an area with lead white and is likely another degradation product. Although spectral markers indicative of the provenance of the historical pigments were not detected, this work contributes to a greater understanding of the composition of late Gothic Mallorcan altarpieces.