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A Study of the Materials of Pontormo's “Portrait of Alessandro de' Medici”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Ken Sutherland ,
Beth A. Price ,
Irma Passeri  and
Mark Tucker
Ken Sutherland
Affiliation:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Beth A. Price
Affiliation:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia, PA 19101
Irma Passeri
Affiliation:
Yale University Art Gallery, Box 208271, New Haven, CT 06520
Mark Tucker
Affiliation:
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Box 7646, Philadelphia, PA 19101
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Abstract

In studies of the materials of old master paintings, the characterization of thin and degraded layers often presents unusual challenges for routinely used methods of analysis. This paper discusses analyses performed as part of a study of the materials and techniques of Pontormo's “Portrait of Alessandro de’ Medici” (1534–5) carried out during a recent cleaning and restoration of the painting. Pontormo built up the portrait using a complex sequence of preparation, drawing and paint layers, the analysis of which was complicated further in some areas by the presence of degraded materials on the paint surface. The materials used for the various stages of preparation and painting were characterized by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS), Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The focus of this paper will be the particular approaches taken to the characterization of the preparation layers and degraded surface materials.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 852 , 2004 , OO2.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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