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Sensitivity of Modern Oil Paints to Solvents. Effects on Synthetic Organic Pigments

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Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint

Abstract

Synthetic organic pigments are widely used in contemporary artists- and house paints. They can be found in artworks since 1900. Because of their special particle properties and their solubility in solvents, however, synthetic organic pigments pose a special challenge in conservation treatments. Analyses have been carried out on 23 synthetic organic pigments in oil paint films with six representative solvents. Solubility of the pigments upon solvent exposure has been determined by UV-Vis-spectroscopy. Some pigments have shown high solubility and were even extracted out of the oil paint film. Detailed examination on the influence of pigment extractions from the oil paint film was carried out with light microscopy, Raman- and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Swab tests elucidated that all pigments are very sensitive to the combination of (mostly) polar solvents and mechanical stress. The study demonstrates that mechanically applying solvents to paint surfaces containing synthetic organic pigments is delicate due to (a) the solubility of the pigments themselves, (b) mechanical removal of pigment particles – likely supported by the temporary destabilization of the binder. These findings have important implications to conservation practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mussini and Norma (H. Schmincke & Co. GmbH & Co. KG) paints were applied in a wet film thickness of 100 μm with a film applicator Model 360 (Erichsen GmbH & Co. KG) on glass (Slides Assistent Elka 2400) and silicon Hostaphanfoil® RNT 36 (Kremer GmbH & Co. KG). After a preliminary drying of 7 days under room conditions, the samples were artificially aged. The lighting was done with the fluorescent tubes True Lite® 5,500 K and Philips® UV–20 W/08 F20 T12 BLB with ≈5,800 lm/m2 and 557 mW lm−1/≈3,200 mW/m2 at ≈35 °C/≈45–50 %rH for a minimum of 6 months.

  2. 2.

    Perkin Elmer Lambda 650 UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer in quartz cuvettes (10 mm deep K282) over the spectral range of 200–1,000 nm at a resolution of 1 nm. Quantification was carried out in relation to the specific pigment absorption λ max (Blumenroth 2010). It was measured at a time interval of 1 min over a period of 16 min.

  3. 3.

    Avatar 360 FT-IR (Thermo Nicolet) ATR ZnSe-crystal Avatar Smart Miracle with 32 Scans and resolution of 4 cm−1.

  4. 4.

    Renishaw InVia Raman-spectrometer: 785 nm excitation, <12,1 mW on sample, 24 s per spot cumulative mode 6 × 4s, 1 μm step size, 100× objective, slit 65 μm standard in static mode, grating 1,200 l/mm, pinhole IN.

  5. 5.

    Carbon evaporation coater Cressington Carbon Coater 108; embedding medium Technovit 2000LC.

  6. 6.

    100 μm oil paint films on slides, commercial cotton swabs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Ubierring 40, D-50678, Köln, Germany

    Diana Blumenroth

  2. Bern University of Applied Sciences, Fellerstrasse 11, CH-3027, Bern, Switzerland

    Stefan Zumbühl & Nadim C. Scherrer

  3. H. Schmincke & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Otto-Hahn-Str. 2, D-40699, Erkrath, Germany

    Wolfgang Müller

Authors
  1. Diana Blumenroth
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  2. Stefan Zumbühl
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  3. Nadim C. Scherrer
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  4. Wolfgang Müller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Blumenroth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Klaas Jan van den Berg

  2. Department of Conservation & Technology, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom

    Aviva Burnstock

  3. Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Matthijs de Keijzer

  4. National Gallery of Art, Washington,, District of Columbia, USA

    Jay Krueger

  5. Science Department, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Tom Learner

  6. Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Alberto Tagle, de

  7. Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Cologne Institute for Conservation Sciences, Köln, Germany

    Gunnar Heydenreich

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Blumenroth, D., Zumbühl, S., Scherrer, N.C., Müller, W. (2014). Sensitivity of Modern Oil Paints to Solvents. Effects on Synthetic Organic Pigments. In: van den Berg, K., et al. Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10100-2_23

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