14 Innovation and research

14

Innovation and research

One of the strategic objectives of the Centre for the Restoration of Artefacts of Catalonia (CRBMC) is innovation and applied research in the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. Innovation and research are important as they allow us to improve our skills, increase knowledge of our discipline and enable the application of this knowledge in our professional sector through publications, courses, conferences, tutoring of interns and work placement students, collaborations with external professionals, etc.

We define our innovation and research goals with a five-year horizon to help mark our path for the future. All our proposals and projects are encompassed in the following four strategic objectives:

1) the characterization and identification of materials 2) the study of pathologies and causes of deterioration 3) intervention methodologies and techniques 4) techniques for documenting conservation-restoration

With regard to the first strategic objective; the characterization and identification of materials, over the last nine years we have carried out projects on the artistic techniques and constituent materials of works from authors as diverse as Viladomat and Miró (the latter in collaboration with the Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona). The exhaustive knowledge gained regarding the materials and techniques these artists used have helped when taking decisions regarding the intervention. Moreover, the richly structured works of these authors have barely been studied.

The samples and associated scientific and technical documentation of the Catalan Romanesque mural paintings restored at the CRBMC, from Sant Tomàs de Fluvià (1982) to Sant Climent de Taüll (2013), have been reviewed in order to obtain data on the nature, composition and origin of the materials in the wall paintings, to detect possible analytical deficiencies in previous studies (based on current scientific standards), and to establish correlations between the materials and painting techniques used.

This process of characterization and identification is not one limited to materials of artistic creation. We have also launched an ambitious study in the physicochemical laboratory on the analysis of organic components in conservation plastics, which, in addition to giving us valuable information about the nature of the materials that are in contact with the artwork (helping us to discard those which are unsafe), has contributed to the development of a method for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the CRBMC laboratory. effectiveness of essential oils in the control of microbiota, in collaboration with Dr Maria dels Àngels Calvo, from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). This study began with samples subjected to anoxia, with the presence of essential oils, and the positive results encouraged us to test essential oils in museum reserves.

This study –still in progress– aims to transfer the results obtained from laboratory testing to a real environment; a reserve with material susceptible to microbiota damage, in order to see whether this can be controlled with the diffusion into the atmosphere of these essences.

Among the studies that are currently underway, we also want to highlight one that deals with the effects of plants on the surface of archaeological sites, in collaboration with Sant Cugat del Vallès Town Council. This study aims to examine and propose mechanisms to control the proliferation of plants at archaeological sites (a common problem), as these mainly attack the stone and mortars and cause significant physical and chemical damage.

The research carried out at the CRBMC is, above all, applied research. In terms of methodologies and intervention techniques, studies on polychrome cleaning have been carried out for years by our Painting on Canvas Department, giving rise to widely circulated protocols on the subject, and constituting one of our main strong points. An ambitious programme of review and updating relining techniques is currently being carried out in this department, in collaboration with international institutions. This research focuses on indepth knowledge of the mist-lining technique (methodology, materials, adhesives, etc.), in order to apply these resources when the original canvas of a painting is in such a poor state of conservation that it does provide an adequate support function.This study will culminate in a course to disseminate the results obtained.

A study has been carried out on the effectiveness of natural products in the consolidation treatment of non-underwater wood base materials, as an alternative to acrylic resins, in collaboration with Dr Laura Fuster, professor at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Artefacts at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Polychrome on Wood at the Catalan Institute of Wood. The conservation of an object in an uncontrolled environment is conditioned by the ageing of acrylic resins because once the resin has been applied, the intrinsic properties of the wood are subject to modification. The ultimate goal of this study is to find natural and compatible alternatives for wood consolidation treatments, which are easily applicable and have a low toxicity rate for conservation-restoration professionals.

During the programme assessing relining techniques: mist-lining

Petri or culture dishes containing samples from different artefacts and essential oils

We would also like to point out that the new Documents, works on paper and photography department is studying new methods for the application of adhesives in emulsions applied to glass plates. The aim is to compare the results of the application of different adhesives and/or hardeners and to assess a new method of application through the spraying in different test tubes that have been exposed to the same level of deterioration. Another interesting project in this area, which will help us in future emergencies, is the freeze-drying, encapsulation and anoxia of documentary archives affected by flooding. This is a project that aims to minimize the effects of microbiological activity and water in cases of natural disaster, in order to safeguard heritage in situations of risk.

Research projects often arise as a result of the intervention of a cultural artefact, from which very specific study and research needs are generated. A typical example of this is the study carried out in the restoration of the Virgin of Bellpuig de les Avellanes. This Virgin appeared at public auction in 2011, and as a result was acquired by the Catalan Ministry of Culture. Everything seemed to indicate that this was the figure which presided over the tomb of the Counts of Urgell, currently located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York. The sculpture, the work of Bartomeu de Robió, contained traces of shellac and we knew that the same traces were present in the tombs of the counts of Urgell. In order to compare both polychromes and to be able to confirm or deny the origin of the sculpture of the Virgin, the CRBMC established a collaboration agreement with the MET, to carry out a comparative study of both polychromes. In the end, the study determined that in both cases the same type of shellac, with the same components, was present. This therefore confirmed the theory of many historians that the Virgin of Bellpuig de les Avellanes, by Bartomeu de Robió, was originally located in the monastery of Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes, next to the tombs of the counts of Urgell.

In summary, at the CRBMC we dedicate all the resources we have at our disposal to learning more about the materials that make up the works entrusted to our care, so we can understand the mechanisms of deterioration in order to improve intervention methods and to establish partnerships with all kinds of institutions that, like us, are interested in knowing, valuing and preserving our cultural heritage.

Chemists Ricardo Suárez and Ruth Sadurní examining samples for characterisation and identification

Paolo Cremonesi is the scientific advisor to the CRBMC’s pictorial surface cleaning protocol. Here we see him in a course he taught at the Centre on this subject