http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=40664

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Nanocoat for restoring historic paintings

06 September 2010

Mike Brown/Nuremberg, Germany

New inorganic nanoparticles that simultaneously restore and preserve ancient artworks have been developed by researchers in Italy. Many types of cultural heritage could be treated using this method, without causing further damage over time unlike some currently used polymer coatings, they say.

Preservation and restoration of artwork is important, as paintings such as frescos give us important glimpses into history. A standard method used by conservationists for protecting frescos is to apply an acrylic polymer coating, but such coatings can turn yellow, giving a plastic appearance and damaging the artwork in the long term. 

Piero Baglioni and colleagues at the University of Florence, have developed alkali metal hydroxide nanoparticles that can be applied to frescos and other pieces of art that not only provide a protective barrier against further damage, but can also help restore them to their former glory.

Talking to Chemistry World at the 3rd EuCheMS Chemistry Congress, in Nuremberg, Germany, Baglioni explains that most wall paintings and monuments are made out of limestone - a sedimentary rock composed largely of calcium carbonate. When damaged by water, 'calcium carbonate is chemically converted into calcium sulfate and during this reaction you lose the painting,' he says.

The team has developed calcium hydroxide nanoparticles that react with carbon dioxide in the air to form calcium carbonate - to replace what has been lost due to water damage. 'During this chemical process you have consolidation of the painting and stabilisation of the work of art,' Baglioni says. This extra calcium carbonate can also help reverse some of the damage caused by the calcium sulfate - this restoration process is something none of the current coatings are able to do.  

The coating is very easy to use, the nanoparticles are first dispersed in propanol - a non-toxic solvent - and then sprayed or brushed onto the surface of the artwork. In cases where the surface is very fragile, Japanese paper - very thin porous paper - is laid on top of the painting to protect it from damage, allowing a thin coating to be applied through the pores.  

'We produced calcium, strontium, barium and magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles, and each of these are useful for different purposes. For example you can use magnesium and calcium hydroxide for the conservation of paper, wood or cellulosic based materials,' Baglioni states. He believes the nanoparticle method can be used to protect most surfaces, apart from metal. 

'The work is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but marry tradition and innovation by taking a concept that was developed in the 1970s and improving on it by combining the most modern aspects of nanotechnology, so that it can be more effective,' says Francesca Casadio, senior conservation scientist at the Art Institute of Chicago, in the US. 'I can see this really becoming an important avenue for treatment of wall paintings and I really hope there will be more technology from the world of nanotechnology for conservation,' she adds. 

'We use this method in the jungle in Mexico, where there is no electricity. They just brush over the paintings - it is very simple. Hopefully, eventually all conservators will use this method as it is simpler and safer for the works of art and the conservator,' Baglioni concludes.

http://rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2010/September/06091001.asp

Exquisite artefacts from the Forbidden City

By Jamil Anderlini

Published: September 4 2010 01:07 | Last updated: September 4 2010 01:07

The Qianlong emperor ruled China from 1736 to 1796, at a time when his “middle kingdom” was the richest and most powerful nation in the world. While countries such as America and France were fighting their revolutions, Qianlong oversaw a rapid expansion of the Chinese empire as well as a great flourishing of the arts that buttressed the belief that China sat at the centre of the universe.

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Making a scene about art - Aug-30

The country’s attitude at the time to non-Chinese “barbarians” is summed up nicely in a letter Qianlong wrote to King George III in response to a trade mission sent by the English monarch to Peking (as Beijing was then known) in 1793.

“As your ambassador can see for himself, the celestial empire abounds in all things and lacks nothing. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious and have no use for your country’s products,” the emperor responded to the English requests for greater access to the Chinese market. Despite King George’s impudence at even suggesting more interaction between Chinese and foreigners, Qianlong forgave him the affront: “I have ever shown the greatest condescension to the tribute missions of all states which sincerely yearn after the blessings of civilisation so as to manifest my kindly indulgence.”

The letter ended with the customary imperial sign-off: “Tremble and Obey.”

The emperor obviously had no premonition of the humiliating British-led opium wars and foreign domination of China that were to unfold over the next century and a half.

Today, China has just overtaken Japanas the world’s second-largest economy and its seemingly inexorable economic and military rise is seen by many as a return to its rightful position in the world. It’s in this context that an extremely rare exhibition of Qianlong’s private artworks is going on display at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, next week before travelling to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and then the Milwaukee Art Museum early next year.

The exhibition, organised in collaboration with the World Monuments Fund and the Palace Museum in Beijing, boasts 90 exquisite objects of ceremony and leisure, including murals, furniture, paintings, screens and jade artefacts. These objects all come from the secret garden retirement complex that the emperor built for himself more than 230 years ago within the vermilion walls of the Forbidden City in central Beijing.

Incredibly, many of them were discovered by accident when the World Monuments Fund and Palace Museum began restoring the complex a few years ago. Most have never been displayed or even left the Forbidden City since they were first created centuries ago. While nearly 8m people visit the 180-acre Forbidden City each year, this part has been off-limits to the public since it was built in the 18th century.

I was recently granted entry to the two-acre garden retreat and allowed to stroll through the Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service in the tranquillity of rockeries, pavilions and gardens where only a handful of eunuchs, concubines and restoration experts had ever set foot. (Visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to take something of the same stroll by virtual means.) The most striking thing about the garden is just how peaceful it is – a world away from the traffic, dust and mayhem of Beijing a few metres beyond the walls.

Under an artfully designed rockpile next to the Supreme Chamber of Cultivating Harmony, a secret underground passageway passes beneath trees and immaculately designed pagodas. In another corner of the complex – next to the Studio of Self-restraint and Terrace for Collecting Morning Dew – is the Pavilion of Purification, where the emperor would sit in the shade with his consorts beside a skinny dragon-shaped trough filled with flowing water and play an ancient Chinese drinking game. Cups of liquor were floated down the miniature stream and whoever the cup stopped in front of had to drain the glass and compose a poem. This was easy for Qianlong, a prolific and passionate scribbler who was credited with more than 1,300 prose texts and over 40,000 poems.

He wasn’t so fond of competition, though, and while he oversaw a 20-year project to catalogue all important works on Chinese culture he also burnt or banned thousands of books and carried out a number of literary inquisitions that often ended with “death by a thousand cuts” for the offending author.

Despite the dismissive attitude towards foreign barbarians Qianlong displayed in his correspondence with King George, the imperial court of the time actually included a number of French and Italian artists and architects. In many of the pieces on display in this exhibition and throughout the secret garden complex, you can see hints of obvious foreign influence, especially in the objects that incorporate glass, which was not widely produced in China at the time.

But perhaps the most interesting piece is composed of 16 delicate lacquer screen panels decorated with jade and gold paint. On one side are grotesque and distorted black and white figures representing enlightened disciples of the Buddha, while on the reverse side each one is covered with beautifully intricate golden plants and flowers in striking contrast to the ugliness on the front.

This blend of fragile beauty with powerfully ugly religious imagery captures something of the essence of the emperor and his celestial empire – the blend of hubris and vulnerability in international affairs, cruelty and aesthetic sensitivity in the artistic realm.

‘The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City’, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, September 14- January 9 2011 www.pem.org
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/aa8df05a-b6e9-11df-b3dd-00144feabdc0.html

http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/ndsu-outdoor-bronze/

http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/ndsu-outdoor-bronze/

http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/category/materials-research/http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/ndsu-outdoor-bronze/print/

NDSU studies protective coatings for outdoor bronze sculpture

Updated: September 2, 2010, Published: September 2, 2010

by Jeff Guin

Some of the world’s most famous art will never appear in a gallery. Indeed, outdoor bronze sculpture may spend decades or centuries outdoors, exposed to pollution and extreme weather conditions. Researchers at North Dakota State University (NDSU) used a grant from NCPTT to study ways to test and develop a coating system to resist corrosion on outdoor bronze sculpture.

The worlds of coating science and art conservation came together in this project to develop a electrochemical testing methods for corrosion protective coatings and improve protective coatings. Gordon P. Bierwagen, professor and chair of polymers and coatings at NDSU, directed the project.

“The goal of this project was to develop a more effective treatment to prevent as much as possible the corrosion process on bronze sculpture and ornamentation,” Bierwagen said. “The research produced some significant findings in this area.”

Bronze, an alloy of mostly copper and tin, is often used in outdoor sculpture. These sculptures must survive in an environment of pollutants, acid rain and varying temperatures. Through this research, new coating systems were studied that would protect sculptures from a sometimes hostile environment.

Five new coating systems were tested with both accelerated corrosion test methods and under natural exposure to corrosive environments. The performance of the systems in the different exposures was compared. Specifically at NDSU, these accelerated test methods were combined with electrochemical testing methods to monitor the corrosion.

Among the findings was a determination through electrochemical study that a fluorocarbon-acrylic blend had the potential to be an excellent coating, though further study on adhesion issues was needed. Additionally, benzotriazole (BTA)--long used as a coating, though virtually unstudied--was indeed found to produce significant protection when used along with a topcoat on bronze objects.

The research was a joint effort with E. René de la Rie, head of scientific research at the National Gallery of Art, and Lynn B. Brostoff of the Mellon Institute. Graduate student Lisa Ellingson, did most of the experimental work at NDSU under Bierwagen’s direction, while her counterpart at the National Gallery of Art was Tara Shedlosky, who was directed by de la Rie.

http://www.enn.com/wildlife/spotlight/41727

Courtauld Institute of Art | Stephen Rickerby | Lisa Shekede | Petra National Trust |

News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11153902

Palaeolithic funeral feast unearthed in Northern Israel

By Katie Alcock Science reporter, BBC News Over 70 tortoise skeletons were found in one of the depressions, many of them with almost intact shells
The remains of a huge 12,000 year old feast have been found in a cave in Northern Israel.

Archaeologists working in Hilazon Tachtit found what they thought was a late Palaeolithic campsite, when they discovered tools and animal bones.

However they soon realised they were looking at a large burial site, with huge numbers of animal bones.

They found the remains of at least three aurochs - giant extinct cattle - and over 70 tortoise skeletons.

The site, from the era known as the Natufian phase, had at least 28 human bodies, ranging from babies to those who would have been elderly for the time - aged about 45.

Natalie Munro from the University of Connecticut in the US and Leore Grossman from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem were especially interested to find two pit-like depressions in the centre of the cave that were too small for habitation.

Instead, the depressions contained these animal bones. One depression had the auroch remains which had been butchered. The other contained the tortoise bones and shells, which were mostly intact, and some of which were burned.

The team drew the conclusion that the tortoises had been cooked and the meat had then been removed. This was the best evidence that the animals had been killed and cooked for eating, not killed as a sacrifice.

In the depressions they found three adult bodies - one was definitely a middle-aged woman and two others were likely also female - one of these was buried with the body of a foetus. The excavation took place in Hilazon Tachtit cave in Northern Israel
The middle aged woman probably died of natural causes, and was buried with a strange assortment of individual animal bones. These included the pelvis of a leopard, the wingtip of an eagle, and the skull of a stone marten - all animals with distinctive fur or feathers.

The woman herself had some unusual physical characteristics, probably congenital malformations which very likely led to a life-long limp.

Although the researchers couldn't recover any soft material from the clay soil, this combination of unusual features made them think that the woman had a particular significance for the culture, and that her burial was commemorated with a feast.

Evidence of such huge feasts has previously been found only in later archaeological sites, including some Neolithic sites in other areas of Israel, so this research, published in PNAS, is the earliest evidence for feasting on this scale.

The people who left these remains would have expended a great deal of effort to catch these huge wild cattle, and gather large numbers of tortoises.

All over the modern world, feasting rituals still celebrate the dead, including Western wakes and the Mexican Day of the Dead, when relatives hold dinners in cemeteries.

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