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Tracing the biological origin of animal glues used in paintings through mitochondrial DNA analysis

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Abstract

We report the development of a suitable protocol for the identification of the biological origin of binding media on tiny samples from ancient paintings, by exploitation of the high specificity and high sensitivity offered by the state-of-the art DNA analysis. In particular, our aim was to molecularly characterize mitochondrial regions of the animal species traditionally employed for obtaining glues. The model has been developed using aged painting models and then tested to analyze the organic components in samples from the polychrome terracotta Madonna of Citerna by Donatello (1415–1420), where, by GC–MS and FTIR spectroscopy, animal glues and siccative oils were identified. The results obtained are good in terms of both sensibility and specificity of the method. First of all, it was possible to confirm that Donatello used animal glue for the preparation of the painted layers of the Madonna of Citerna and, specifically, glue derived from Bos taurus. Data obtained from sequencing confirm that each sample contains animal glue, revealing that it was mostly prepared from two common European taurine lineages called T2 and T3. There is one remarkable exception represented by one sample which falls into a surviving lineage of the now extinct European aurochs.

One of the four microscale samples of the “Madonna of Citerna” collected during restoration (upper) and amplicons obtained using primers specific for cattle, swine, rabbit and sheep on DNA isolated from the 4 microscale samples (S1, S2, S3 and S4)

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Peggy Ozias-Akins at the University of Georgia and Ugo A. Perego at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (Utah, USA) for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Applicata, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121, Perugia, Italy

    Emidio Albertini, Lorenzo Raggi, Gianpiero Marconi, Fabio Veronesi & Mario Falcinelli

  2. Centro di Eccellenza SMAArt (Scientific Methodologies applied to Archaeology and Art), c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Perugia, via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Manuela Vagnini, Alessandro Sassolini, Laura Cartechini, Brunetto Giovanni Brunetti & Costanza Miliani

  3. Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare e Ambientale, Via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Alessandro Achilli

  4. CNR-ISTM, via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Laura Cartechini, Brunetto Giovanni Brunetti & Costanza Miliani

Authors
  1. Emidio Albertini
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  2. Lorenzo Raggi
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  3. Manuela Vagnini
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  4. Alessandro Sassolini
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  5. Alessandro Achilli
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  6. Gianpiero Marconi
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  7. Laura Cartechini
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  8. Fabio Veronesi
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  9. Mario Falcinelli
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  10. Brunetto Giovanni Brunetti
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  11. Costanza Miliani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emidio Albertini.

Additional information

E. Albertini and L. Raggi equally contributed to this work

Published in the special issue Analytical Chemistry for Cultural Heritage with Guest Editors Rocco Mazzeo, Silvia Prati, and Aldo Roda

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Albertini, E., Raggi, L., Vagnini, M. et al. Tracing the biological origin of animal glues used in paintings through mitochondrial DNA analysis. Anal Bioanal Chem 399, 2987–2995 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4287-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4287-2

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