Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-16T00:26:49.129Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microcharacterization of a Natural Blue Pigment Used in Wall Paintings During the Romanesque Period in Northern Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2013

Josefina Pérez-Arantegui ,
Carlos Pardos ,
José-Luis Abad  and
José-Ramón García
Josefina Pérez-Arantegui*
Affiliation:
Instituto Universitario de investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón (IUCA), Universidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Carlos Pardos
Affiliation:
Dep. Química Analítica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
José-Luis Abad
Affiliation:
Antique SL, Art Restoration, 22270 Almudévar (Huesca), Spain
José-Ramón García
Affiliation:
Antique SL, Art Restoration, 22270 Almudévar (Huesca), Spain
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: jparante@unizar.es
Get access

Abstract

In Romanesque wall paintings in Aragon (Spain), the pigment used for creating blue was a very characteristic mineral, aerinite, which came from local ores in the southern Pyrenees. Optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray diffraction, and reflectance spectroscopy were used to make a detailed microcharacterization of this rare blue pigment in order to improve the knowledge of its composition and possible variability, from samples of medieval paintings and some mineral ores. New analytical data on the chemical composition of the blue pigment are reported here, together with the characterization of its microstructure, and the heterogeneity of the natural pigment made by the features of the ore itself. X-ray diffraction pattern and color parameters of the mineral ores are also included. The data obtained by SEM-EDX will assist identification of this pigment by electron microscopy. The natural variability in composition observed in the samples may be used to explain formation of the extracted mineral and to compare several ore sources. Connection of the ore composition with the pigments used in Romanesque wall paintings will help both provenance and attribution studies.

Keywords

electron microscopycharacterizationblue pigmentaerinitewall paintingRomanesque
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 19 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 1645 - 1652
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcolea, S. (1964). El maestro de Ruesta, nueva figura de nuestra pintura románica. Goya 62, 68–73.Google Scholar
Azambre, B. & Monchoux, P. (1988). Précisions minéralogiques sur l'aérinite: nouvelle occurrence à Saint-Pandelon (Landes, France). Bull Minéral 111, 39–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besteiro, J., Lago, M. & Pocovi, A. (1982). Observaciones sobre una mineralización de aerinita asociadas a rocas ofíticas del Prepirineo leridano. Bol Soc Esp Mineral 5, 43–53.Google Scholar
Besteiro, J., Lago, M., Pocovi, A., Bastida, J., Amigó, J.M. & Moliner, R. (1985). Nuevos datos mineralógicos sobre un inclasificado aluminosilicato, “aerinita”, y consideraciones sobre su atribución al grupo de las Ceolitas. Acta Geol Hispán 20, 257–266.Google Scholar
Canellas López, A. & San Vicente, A. (1985). Aragón. La España románica , vol. 4, pp. 1–469. Madrid, España: Encuentro.Google Scholar
Clark, R.J.H., Hark, R.R., Salvadó, N., Butí, S. & Pradell, T. (2010). Spectroscopy study of mural paintings from the Pyrenean Church of Saint Eulàlia of Unha. J Raman Spectrosc 41, 1418–1424.Google Scholar
Daniel, F., Laborde, B., Mounier, A. & Coulon, E. (2008). Le pigment d'aérinite dans deux peintures murales romanes du Sud-Ouest de la France. ArchéoSciences 32, 83–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastaugh, N., Walsh, V., Chaplin, T. & Siddall, R. (2005). Pigment Compendium (CD-ROM). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Grissom, C.A. (1986). Green earth. In Artists' Pigments.A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, vol. 1, Feller, R.L. (Ed.), pp. 141–167. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art.Google Scholar
Hradil, D., Grygar, T., Hradilová, J. & Bezdička, P. (2003). Clay and iron oxide pigments in the history of painting. Appl Clay Sci 22, 223–236.Google Scholar
Ibáñez-Insa, J., Oriols, N., Elvira, J.J., Álvarez, S. & Plana, F. (2012). Heat alteration of the blue pigment aerinite: Application to Sixena's Romanesque frescoes. Macla 12, 46–47.Google Scholar
Lago, M. & Pocovi, A. (1980). Observaciones petrográficas y tectónicas sobre las ofitas del área de Aulet (Prepirineo meridional, prov. de Huesca). Acta Geol Hispán XV, 141–151.Google Scholar
Palet Casas, A. & de Andres Llopis, J. (1992). The identification of aerinite as a blue pigment in the Romanesque frescoes of the Pyrenean region. Stud Conservation 37, 132–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pradell, T., Vendrell-Saz, M., Molera, J. & Nogués-Carulla, J.M. (1991). Mineralogical characterization of a blue medieval pigment from Andorra. In Science, Technology and European Cultural Heritage, Proceedings of the European Symposium, Bolonia 1989, Baer, N.S., Sabbioni, C. & Sors, A.I. (Eds.), pp. 943–946. Oxford, UK: Utterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Google Scholar
Rius, J., Crespi, A., Roig, A. & Melgarejo, J.C. (2009). Crystal-structure refinement of Fe3+-rich aerinite from synchrotron powder diffraction and Mössbauer data. Eur J Mineral 21, 233–240.Google Scholar
Rius, J., Elkaim, E. & Torrelles, X. (2004). Structure determination of the blue mineral pigment aerinite from synchrotron powder diffraction data: The solution of an old riddle. Eur J Mineral 16, 127–134.Google Scholar
Rius, J., Plana, F., Queralt, I. & Louër, D. (1998). Preliminary structure type determination of the fibrous aluminosilicate aerinite from powder X-ray diffraction data. An Quím, Int Ed 94, 101–106.Google Scholar
Salvadó, N., Butí, S., Pantos, E., Bahrami, F., Labrador, A. & Pradell, T. (2008). The use of combined synchrotron radiation micro FT-IR and XRD for the characterization of Romanesque wall paintings. Appl Phys A 90, 67–73.Google Scholar
Tura, J.M., Castellar, M.D., Font-Altaba, M., Marsal, M., Morer, A., Plana, F. & Traveria, A. (1988). Study of the blue pigments of the mural paintings of the Vall de Boí (Catalonia, 11th–12th century) by means of SEM/EDXA. Beitrage zur Elektronenmikroskopischen Direktabb. Oberflächen 21, 298–303.Google Scholar