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An integrated study for mapping the moisture distribution in an ancient damaged wall painting

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Abstract

An integrated study of microclimate monitoring, IR thermography (IRT), gravimetric tests and portable unilateral nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was applied in the framework of planning emergency intervention on a very deteriorated wall painting in San Rocco church, Cornaredo (Milan, Italy). The IRT investigation supported by gravimetric tests showed that the worst damage, due to water infiltration, was localized on the wall painting of the northern wall. Unilateral NMR, a new non-destructive technique which measures the hydrogen signal of the moisture and that was applied directly to the wall, allowed a detailed map of the distribution of the moisture in the plaster underlying the wall panting to be obtained. With a proper calibration of the integral of the recorded signal with suitable specimens, each area of the map corresponded to an accurate amount of moisture. IRT, gravimetric tests and unilateral NMR applied to investigate the northern wall painting showed the presence of two wet areas separated by a dry area. The moisture found in the lower area was ascribed to the occurrence of rising damp at the bottom of the wall due to the slope of the garden soil towards the northern exterior. The moisture found in the upper area was ascribed to condensation phenomena associated with the presence of a considerable amount of soluble, hygroscopic salts. In the framework of this integrated study, IRT investigation and gravimetric methods validated portable unilateral NMR as a new analytical tool for measuring in situ and without any sampling of the distribution and amount of moisture in wall paintings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Italia Nostra Association, the site of Cornaredo Favaglie and Cornaredo Municipality for supportive collaboration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Metodologie Chimiche-Laboratorio di Risonanza Magnetica “Annalaura Segre”, CNR-Area della Ricerca di Roma 1, 00016, Monterotondo Scalo, Rome, Italy

    Donatella Capitani, Noemi Proietti & Marco Gobbino

  2. Accademia di Belle Arti “Aldo Galli”, Via Petrarca 9, 22100, Como, Italy

    Luigi Soroldoni

  3. Istituto di Chimica Inorganica e delle Superfici, CNR - Area della Ricerca di Padova, Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35100, Padua, Italy

    Umberto Casellato

  4. Dipartimento di Energia, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 34, 20158, Milan, Italy

    Massimo Valentini

  5. Dipartimento BEST, Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonari 9, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Elisabetta Rosina

Authors
  1. Donatella Capitani
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  2. Noemi Proietti
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  3. Marco Gobbino
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  4. Luigi Soroldoni
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  5. Umberto Casellato
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  6. Massimo Valentini
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  7. Elisabetta Rosina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Noemi Proietti.

Additional information

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Annalaura Segre, who contributed highly to the development of unilateral NMR for monitoring cultural heritage.

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Capitani, D., Proietti, N., Gobbino, M. et al. An integrated study for mapping the moisture distribution in an ancient damaged wall painting. Anal Bioanal Chem 395, 2245–2253 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-3170-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-3170-5

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