The Cadmium Yellow Alert: Study Explains the Rapid Deterioration of One of Juan Mirò’s Favourite Colours
MILAN, Italy, Dec. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A photo from 1978 shows famous Catalan surrealist painter Juan Miró in his Taller Sert, surrounded by his paintings. In the background, the bright, intense yellow of Femme dans le rue (1973), stands out. Fifty years later, that cadmium-based yellow is faded and chalky. The same phenomenon has affected 25 other paintings in the Fundació Miró Mallorca.
The degraded yellow paint used by Mirò is made from cadmium yellow, a modern pigment composed of cadmium sulfide and introduced in the late 19th century. The pigment was used extensively by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, who appreciated its brilliance and full-bodied tone. As discovered in recent years, however, this pigment can become unstable, leading to a deterioration of the paint, as in the case of important artworks such as Edward Munch's The Scream.
The research conducted so far has provided an understanding of the degradation process, but has not completely clarified the latter’s triggering factors. Furthermore, degradation is more evident in paintings dated between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, at a time when the methods for synthesising cadmium yellow pigment had not yet been perfected, while Miró's works were painted in the 1970s, i.e. in a much later period.
The Fundació Miró Mallorca collection therefore represents a unique case study for understanding the deterioration of this particular paint at a later stage in the history of cadmium yellow pigment production.
To shed light on the issue, the conservators turned to restorer Mar Gomez Lobon, who assembled an international team that included Italian scientists Daniela Comelli and Marta Ghirardello from the Politecnico di Milano and Francesca Caterina Izzo from Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
The researchers and their colleagues analysed nine samples taken from the artist’s paintings, paint tubes, and palettes, and used a multi-analytical approach: electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence at the Grenoble synchrotron, infrared spectroscopy, micro photoluminescence and chromatographic analysis.
The paint’s chemical composition and the crystalline structure of the pigments are the clues that lead the research team to argue that the degraded cadmium yellow came from paint tubes produced by the French brand Lucien Lefebvre-Foinet, a favourite of Miró’s. Over a hundred tubes of this brand were found in his studios, including five of Cadmium Yellow Lime No.1, unrecognisable today. This was certainly not a cheap product: the Parisian house produced high quality colours that artists such as Mondrian, Matisse and Giacometti used.
'Its low crystallinity exposes the pigment to high photo-chemical reactivity. This is one of the main causes of the paint's vulnerability and can be traced back to the method by which the pigment was synthesised. Such method is, however, unknown, and no historical sources have yet been found,' explains Daniela Comelli from the Physics Department of the Politecnico di Milano.
Finally, storage and environmental conditions strongly contributed to the material's chemical and physical transformation. Samples with the same chemical composition show different levels of degradation, and the best-preserved colour comes from a palette that had remained locked in a drawer for 32 years, protected from light and changes in humidity.
“The preservation of Miró's and other artists’ cadmium yellow requires control over environmental parameters such as exposure to light and relative humidity,' explains Francesca Caterina Izzo of Ca' Foscari University of Venice. 'When painted surfaces are severely degraded and therefore fragile, glazing with UV-filtering glass may help, while solutions involving the application of protective coatings, varnishes or consolidants require further study.
The research, published in the scientific journal Heritage Science, was conducted by restorer Mar Gomez Lobon together with Marta Ghirardello and Daniela Comelli of the Politecnico di Milano, Enric Juncosa Darder of the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca, Carlos Palomino Cabello and Marta Bauza of the Universitat de les Illes Balears, Marine Cotte of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Austin Nevin, Aviva Burnstock and Silvia Rita Amato of The Courtauld Institute of Art, and Francesca Caterina Izzo of Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
Research into Miró's “mystery” yellow will continue with research on other colours of the Lucien Lefebvre-Foinet brand and on paintings containing cadmium yellow that were stored in similar conditions but do not show the same signs of decay.
Full scientific article on: https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-023-00987-4
For more information:
Press Office LaPresse - ufficio.stampa@lapresse.it
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1fe4ce23-1e45-46af-bb11-1b028f8ec650
TIN LIÊN QUAN
Richard Curtis releases new version of famous Al Pacino ‘locker room’ scene to mark that the world is at halftime on Sustainable Development Goals
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=dc4d4e06-625c-41e0-929a-d7be3d7d35ac&size=3[/img]
Bridge International Academies celebrates potential of all African children on Day of the African Child
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=4e8d812f-05b8-4922-ad83-a183bef5b20f&size=3[/img]
Supercar Rental Company Classic Parade Launches UK's First Cryptocurrency Payment Service
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=49b34c75-e25e-4725-bd2c-0b83c37cfe83&size=3[/img]
Mizar announces its Much-Requested Token Generation Event (TGE)
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=2896a32c-4e7f-415f-b7f0-cdc0c5b7d4ff&size=3[/img]
Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group Announces New Sales and Service Facility in Qatar
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=9c5d6ba2-8512-4d88-9225-ac887d1d4e7d&size=3[/img]
Matterport Appoints Cloud Industry Executive Natalie Lamb as Managing Director for EMEA
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=d04be3bb-18c4-4be5-9ce9-a23cba6355b4&size=3[/img]
Yunnan Innyo and VisitYunnan Collaborate to Launch Tourism Videos Showcasing the Ancient Tea-Horse Road
[img]http://phpstack-911252-3168991.cloudwaysapps.com/api/ImageRender/DownloadFile?resourceId=6c9e3369-052e-464d-8333-d4dd6c9bd231&size=3[/img]
THỦ THUẬT HAY
Cách chặn tin nhắn quảng cáo trên điện thoại Android
Những tin nhắn quảng cáo, spam từ nhà mạng, số điện thoại lạ luôn gây khó chịu, bài viết sẽ hướng dẫn bạn cách chặn tin nhắn quảng cáo trên điện thoại Android.
Tạo ảnh xoá phông trên iPhone đơn giản chỉ với một camera
Thực tế, việc chỉnh sửa sẽ vô cùng mất thời gian so với khi dùng iPhone X đã thiết lập thuật toán sẵn. Ở đây mình sẽ hướng dẫn bạn cách dùng ứng dụng Focus Effect, được tải miễn phí tại Appstore.
Nguyên nhân và cách khắc phục lỗi 500 Internal Server Error
500 Internal Server Error là lỗi xuất hiện trên trình duyệt web khi người dùng cố gắng truy cập vào một địa chỉ nào đó, nhưng thất bại, lúc này tùy vào từng thiết kế của mỗi trình duyệt mà hiển thị lỗi này sẽ khác nhau.
Cách tải full bộ lọc cho ứng dụng VSCO
VSCO là ứng dụng chỉnh sửa ảnh được khá nhiều bạn trẻ yêu thích với những bộ lọc màu 'tuyệt đẹp'. Hôm nay TCN sẽ hướng dẫn cho bạn cách tải về full bộ lọc cho ứng dụng này.
Hướng dẫn cách sử dụng bảng điều khiển tủ lạnh Sharp SJ-FX630V-ST
Để giúp các bạn có thể sử dụng tủ lạnh của mình hiệu quả hơn, TCN sẽ hướng dẫn các bạn cách sử dụng bảng điều khiển tủ lạnh Sharp SJ-FX630V-ST nhé.
ĐÁNH GIÁ NHANH
Chevrolet Captiva LTZ 2016 - chiếc SUV 7 chỗ giá rẻ và đáng mua
Chevrolet Captiva Revv 2016 có thể không phải là chiếc SUV 7 chỗ mới nhất trên thị trường, tuy nhiên với mức giá khởi điểm 30.490 USD (~ 678 triệu đồng) thì đây là một trong những chiếc xe...
Hongqi E-HS9 - Xứng danh "Rolls-Royce của Trung Quốc"
Thiết kế “chuẩn” Rolls-Royce, khoang nội thất tràn ngập công nghệ, hệ truyền động điện mạnh mẽ và thân thiện với môi trường, cảm giác lái ổn định,... Tất cả đều được gói gọn trong một chiếc xe được mệnh danh là
So sánh AirPods Pro và Beats Studio Buds: Gà cùng một mẹ có gì khác nhau?
Airpods Pro và Beats Studio Buds đều là hai mẫu tai nghe không dây mới nhất của Apple. Tuy nhiên, hai mẫu tai nghe này lại có rất nhiều điểm khác nhau. Vậy những điểm khác nhau đó là gì? Hãy mình đặt lên bàn cân và đi