XRF

This work presents the results of a complementary diagnostic investigation carried out on two paintings assigned to world-famous Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. The paintings, Virgin and Child and The Beheading of St John the Baptist, part of the National Museum of Art of Romania collection, are representative biblical themes for Cranach's artwork. Although a leading figure in the 16th-century German art world, with over 1000 surviving artworks, there are relatively few technical studies within the literature focused on the investigation of Cranach’s painting technique. The aim of this study was to characterize the pigments, ground layers and painting technique used in Cranach's paintings by means of an integrated non-destructive approach that included handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Hyperspectral Imaging. For both analyzed paintings, FTIR analysis identified linseed oil as the binding medium, while for the ground layers chalk (calcium carbonate) with some trace of proteinaceous materials (possible animal glue) was highlighted. Combined IR and XRF data allowed identification of a vibrant color palette, with lead white, lead-tin yellow, verdigris, azurite, cobalt blue, orpiment, vermilion, red earth, ochre and umber among the most used pigments. Details regarding the overlapping layers technique were also revealed. Hyperspectral imaging showed no underdrawings but various past restoration interventions were possible to document in high detail resolution. Results of the carried investigations offer valuable insights regarding the painting materials and style used by this influential 16th century master. Moreover, the findings are significant as from a technical perspective they may provide key information that can support the conservation strategy of these remarkable artworks.

Efforts to read medieval manuscript waste recycled as bookbinding material in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have resulted in the chemical analysis of four books housed at the University Library of Southern Denmark and the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington DC. Four green coloured book bindings have been investigated by optical microscopy, micro X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show that the green pigments used to obscure the manuscript waste in all four cases contain orpiment (As 2 S 3) and indigo (C 16 H 11 N 2 O 2). Although the books were printed in diverse places in Europe-Basel, Bologna, and Lübeck-the styles of their bindings indicate that they were likely bound in the same region in the same period. It is further likely that they acquired their arsenic-rich paint as part of the bookbinding process. Issues concerning the toxicity, health issues for library staff, conservators and researchers handling the books are also addressed.

Diapir Folds Zone (= Mio-Pliocene Zone) as major subunit of the Carpathian Foredeep lies between the Buzau and Dambovita valleys and between the folds of the inner Carpathians and the external flanks of the Carpathian Foredeep. This geological unit represents the most prolific zones of accumulation in Romania in which numerous hydrocarbon deposits of Tertiary age have been discovered in more than 150 years of exploration. Diapir Folds Zone can be considered a world class hydrocarbon province having several “giant” oil fields such as Gura Ocnitei, Moreni, Runcu-Bustenari, Boldesti, Viforata-Teis, Tintea-Baicoi and others.
Geologically, Moreni oil field is located in the central part of the Diapir Folds Zone, approx. 100 km north from Bucharest. It belongs to Tintea-Baicoi-Moreni-Targoviste major structural anticline being constituted of formations belonging to Pliocene and Miocene. The Moreni oil field has some of the oldest oil production in Romania and is still the largest commercial reservoir in Romania. In the Moreni anticline several objectives belonging to the Pliocene and Miocene proved to be productive since 1890. The main petroleum objectives is represent by Meotian and Dacian deposits characterized by structural and combined traps and having following average values of main parameters of the productive formations: thickness 4-23 m; porosity 25-33 %; permeability 200-1400 mD; irreducible water saturation 20-30 %; volume reduction factor 1.18-1.26; petroleum specific gravity 840-880 kg/m3.
The paper presents the complex chemico-mineralogical investigations performed by    X-rays fluorescence (XRF), X-rays diffraction (XRD) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurements of several cores from Moreni oil field. The paper brings new information on the Moreni oil field increasing degree of knowledge of the Neogene reservoir rocks. Establishing global mineralogical composition, the rock type and chemical characters have great importance because Neogene deposits have proved an excellent quality as reservoir rocks.

Painter Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988) was one of the most important Brazilian artists of recent years. His extensive work was characterized mainly by chromatic compositions and geometric abstractions. He attributed great importance to craft and materials, developing his own systematic way of working, making his own canvas, paint, and pigments with naturally occurring earth pigments. The current study, making use of complementary non-destructive analytical techniques, sought to study the chromatic and elemental  composition characteristics of his  paintings while gathering information on the technical procedures the artist may have used, in the belief that these are key elements for a deeper  understanding of his work. Two  tempera paintings on canvas were analyzed, both finished around 1950-1960, a period when the artist’s work underwent a major transformation, from figurativism to abstraction, from the use of industrial  oil-based paints to the medieval  technique  of  tempera. Techniques of visual examination based on  ultraviolet,  visible, and infrared photography were used to gather information about the artist’s creative process. These techniques also helped to detect past interventions and to identify pigments. A spectrophotometer  was  used to measure the color based  on  the reflectance spectrum and numerical reference coordinates within a uniform color space while X-ray  fluorescence  was  used for elemental characterization of the materials. The integration of these techniques made it possible to identify a part of the rich palette of Volpi’s paintings and to document the present aspects of the colors and the current condition of the works under study. We were also able to recognize or give indications of pigment and ground compositions and to shed light on parts of each of the works’ backgrounds,  such as the presence  of sketches,  covered earlier paintings and brushstrokes. The techniques used  have  proven  useful  in  characterizing  the paintings, revealing new information about the artist’s  work. The resulting information may be the beginning of a database of his oeuvre.

A multi-analytical approach was applied to study majolica fragments coming from the Medieval and Renaissance waste shaft (butto) of the Monks' Palace in Capena (formerly Leprignano) in order to test the efficacy of IRFC reflectography to characterize ceramic glazed decorations. A total of 21 pottery samples dating back from 14th to 18th century were analyzed. The majority of fragments referred to Archaic and Renaissance artifacts, but one sherd of painted XVIII century majolica from Albissola has been also analyzed. The chemical composition of the colored layers was ascertained by portable surface XRF, and SEM-EDS analyses performed on freshly cut cross sections. The glazes are variable in thickness and generally composed of silicate materials, to which lead and tin compounds, respectively acting as fluxing and opacifying agents, were added. Analyzing the painted layers allowed identifying the elements responsible of the coloration. Manganese in different concentration has been found in violet, brown and black decorations, while copper was detected in the green and turquoise ones. Cobalt is the main chromophore in blue decorations, and refers to the zaffera, whose arsenic content is related to the production period. Yellow and orange decorations are due to lead antimoniate, to which iron oxides are added in the case of orange-brown decoration. Comparing the obtained analytical data with the mineral composition ascertained by micro-Raman technique gave the possibility to precisely identify all used chromophore. The precise knowledge of the composition of all painted decorations made it possible to interpret the response obtained by IRFC reflectography and couple each false color to the peculiar chromophore. The IRFC methodology was proved to be very efficient to identify the single chromophore even in the case of mixtures of pigments. It is also an alternative non-destructive, and low cost methodology that may be successfully applied to the study of decorated majolica pottery.