Microscopic techniques and analytical approach to characterize constitutive materials and techniques of Mariano Rossi paintings

Abstract

The study of academies of art in Europe has always turned on current perceptions of the role of such institutions in the training and support of artists. Roman Accademia di San Luca (founded c. 1593) where the first official art academy in Europe. Mariano Rossi (7 December 1731 - 24 October 1807) was a San Luca academic Italian painter, born to poor parents in Sciacca, Sicily. He trained first in Palermo, then in Naples, and finally in Rome. He is considered one of the greatest exponents of the art of painting in the second half of the eighteenth century, working mainly in Sicily, Campania and Lazio. The present study is probably the first attempt to record the Mariano Rossi painting production: the aim has been pursued by studying at least nine paintings made in the second half of XVIII century by Mariano Rossi, in order to give a proper insight on the evolution of its painting technique and to find out possible correlations between his work and the cultural artistic environment in South of Italy. Micro samples (c. 500 μg) of small and big Mariano Rossi paintings production were analysed with a multi-analytical approach. The micro-morphological characterisation of the pigments and the paint stratigraphy was assessed using light (LM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). X-ray microanalysis (EDX) coupled with SEM and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The multimethod and historical approach were confirmed to be extremely useful for establishing the authenticity of the analyzed paintings through the identification of the constitutive materials and their methods of application