2023-10-23 18:21:55
The results of the diagnostic analyzes conducted on the collection of the Carlo Bilotti museum in Rome were presented at the Carlo Bilotti museum at the Orangery of Villa Borghese in Rome, in relation to the works of the permanent Giorgio de Chirico collection and in particular on the painting ‘Furniture in the room’ from 1927 , as part of the Artemisia research project (Artificial intelligence Extended-Multispectral Imaging Scanner for In-situ Artwork analysis); results obtained using innovative diagnostic investigations, processed through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms.
The project, financed by the Lazio Region and the Ministry of University and Research as part of the research and development projects of the Technological District for the Cultural Heritage of Lazio, is the result of a two-year interdisciplinary collaboration between the Infn-ChNet network (Cultural Heritage Network) for the cultural heritage of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, in collaboration with the partnership composed of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials and Environment of the ‘Sapienza’ University of Rome, the Central Institute for Restoration, XTeam Software Solutions, Vianet and , as a stakeholder, the Capitoline Superintendence.
“Bringing the instrumentation developed in research laboratories into museums is today the path on which to bring together the frontier of diagnostic investigations with the need to know and preserve the materials that constitute works of art – explains the scientific coordinator of the Mariangela Cestelli Guidi project, of the Frascati National Laboratories of the Infn – The innovation of this project lies in the integration of two non-invasive diagnostic investigation techniques, hyperspectral imaging and the Ft-Ir macro-scanner, and the development of artificial intelligence algorithms dedicated both to the automatic recognition of pictorial materials and to monitoring the state of conservation of the works in question”.
The two technologies, continues Cestelli Guidi, are complementary from the point of view of diagnostic information: hyperspectral imaging is able to identify mainly inorganic materials, such as pigments, while Ft-Ir infrared spectroscopy is able to identify organic materials , such as binders and paints. The fusion of the information obtained from your techniques, combined with the possibility of querying a database through artificial intelligence, has made it possible in a very short time to obtain a complete characterization of the materials present on the work to better direct the restoration interventions and plan a correct conservative strategy”.
Furthermore, “it is important to also pay attention to the issue of sharing with the public the results, information and knowledge that are acquired, for example on the materials and techniques used by the artist. A sharing that today can be facilitated and made even more pleasant and entertaining from the opportunities offered by new technologies, such as virtual reality, to discover the invisible behind what is seen on the canvas”, concludes Mariangela Cestelli Guidi.
On this aspect, Federica Pirani, head of the Artistic Heritage Directorate of the historic villas of the Capitoline Superintendence, hopes for the diffusion of the use and knowledge of this technology: “Not only in exhibitions but also in museums and permanent collections, which must be involved and interested in restoring the information normally left out by guides, audio guides and QR Codes, where painting techniques are never, or almost never, spoken about”.
For example, he observes, “without the production of colors in aluminum tubes, which in itself might seem a rather banal invention, impressionist painting would probably have taken other paths and perhaps would not be so loved by the public today. charm and potential that link scientific and technological progress to artistic progress, and therefore, ultimately, the STEM disciplines to the humanistic ones”.
Regarding the technique of Giorgio de Chirico’s painting ‘Furniture in the Room’, Federica Pirani underlines that “the project highlighted that the binder used by the painter was oil, in line with what is reported in the Small treatise on pictorial technique, a a sort of real ‘cookbook’ of colors and techniques used by the artist himself and written by him”.
As regards pigments, “the presence of zinc white (both pure and used in mixture with other pigments), cobalt blue, and earths for the warm shades (red, brown and purple) was identified While, as regards the identification of degradation products, the presence of carboxylates was noted, alteration products that form naturally from the interaction of zinc (contained in the white zinc pigment) with the oil”, concludes Federica Pirani.
The Icr has made expertise available to the project “both in terms of knowledge of the constituent materials of the works of art and of the executive techniques, both in the field of restoration and in terms of diagnostics applied to cultural heritage”, explain Marcella Ioele and Barbara Lavorini, officials of the Central Institute for Restoration, who, based on the analyzes performed and the consultation of the sources, created the specimens for the database, useful for the acquisition of the spectral features with the different instruments”, underlining that “the technology developed in the Artemisia project can also be a valid monitoring tool for restorers during cleaning operations”.
Giuseppe Bonifazi, professor of Raw Materials Engineering at the Department of Materials and Environment Chemistry at ‘Sapienza’, illustrated further details of the research, focusing on the complementary information that was obtained by combining different analytical techniques: “Our eye is sensitive between 400 and 700 nanometers but with infrared we can cover from 700 to 2500 nanometers. The spectroscopic interaction of a spectral range extended from X-rays to short-wave infrared has allowed both molecular (on organic compounds) and elemental (on inorganic pigments) analysis. Another great advantage was that of producing, alongside the chemical-physical image of the subject, also the textural image, which is significant for combating counterfeiting. This is a technique that we have used in the past for the classification of ornamental rocks from an aesthetic point of view. All this information allows the construction of large databases which, if systematized not only at a national level but also and above all at an international level, strengthen the robustness of the analysis algorithms”.
The information generated by each of the investigation techniques “was superimposed to reconstruct a multilayered image of the painting – reports Stefano Tamascelli, senior developer of XTeam Software Solutions – The three-dimensional model provides us with a glimpse into the future created by the use of holographic glasses: for which will one day be possible to navigate within a framework for a personalized experience of artistic enjoyment”. “We have developed a targeted communication of the Artemisia project – concludes Mauro Simeone, Vianet project manager – aimed above all at specialists, museum directors and professionals in the sector, to enhance the potential developments of Artemisia”.
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