D. Omelchenko. Webinar “Coloured Inscriptions and Analytical Techniques” (Hamburg, 19 October 2021). Review of reports // Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 4, 2022, pp. 174–183

Abstract:
This article gives an overview of five papers read by participants in an international webinar held at The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (Hamburg) on October 19, 2021. The webinar was devoted to a study of paints made from mineral pigments and preserved in historical monuments. Employees of scientific institutes from Italy, France and Great Britain shared their experience in studying historical monuments with the help of modern non-invasive technologies. Various types of historical monuments were taken as examples: rock art, Egyptian tombs, miniatures of handwritten books, frescoes, Chinese vases, stained glass, and graffiti. Most of the presenters considered X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), Raman spectroscopy and Fourier-transform spectroscopy. One presentation was devoted to the results of applying the latest technology — Micro-Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy — to the study of works of art. Chemical characteristics of pigments used since ancient times (ochre, cinnabar, azurite and lapis lazuli) were given and the ways of their degradation were discussed. The webinar paid special attention to studies of blue pigment in such variants as Egyptian Blue, Han Blue, azurite, and lapis lazuli. The results of experiments to make blue pigments based on historical recipes were presented. Practical advice from the participants was an important component of the webinar. For example, one of the presenters shared a classification of methods he had developed that could be used to identify paint technologies on the surface of objects. To another speaker, years of experience in illumination research allowed him to conclude what types of mobile devices are suitable for this specific object, and what their technical characteristics should be.

Keywords:
historical monuments, mineral pigments, non-invasive technologies of research, X-ray fluorescence analysis, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform spectroscopy.

Author:
Omelchenko, Darya — Cand. of Sci (History), Researcher, Laboratory for Comprehensive Research of Manuscript Monuments, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences.
E-mail: dorothy_om@mail.ru

FULLSCREEN TEXT

Similar Posts

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – Z.V. Dmitrieva. Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov (1939–2022)

On April 21, 2022, Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov, an outstanding historian, source specialist, archaeographer and historiographer, died. The scientist’s entire scientific life was connected with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he went a long way from graduate student to chief researcher. Mikhail Borisovich was not only Russia’s leading specialist in history, Ancient Rus` and Russian historiography, but also the author of manuals on the history, theory and practice of studying the history of Russia of the 6th–13th centuries.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – A.V.Korchilava, S.P.Elkin, D.S.Prokuratov. Application of digital image correction methods for the analysis of historical objects and cultural heritage

The article describes the implementation of a digital processing program to improve and restore images of museum and archival objects obtained using non-invasive research methods. The practical meaning of this work is to reduce the influence of the human factor on the results of the study, automate the process of diagnosis and obtaining information through numerical processing: improvement, restoration and detailing of image fragments.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – S.N.Iskyul. Review of the book: Gorshkov D.I. La Garde au feu! Napoleon’s Imperial Guard during the Retreat of 1812: Condition, Efficiency and Inter-Regimental Communication: Scientific monograph. Moscow. 2022

The review is devoted to a critical analysis of D. I. Gorshkov’s monograph “La Garde au feu! Napoleon’s Imperial Guard during the Retreat of 1812: Condition, Efficiency and Inter-Regimental Communication”.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – Y.M.Shepilova, Yu.P.Baskakova, E.I.Nosova, S.L.Itarilova. Technical and technological expertise and attribution of the portrait of S.A.Yesenin

Originally the portrait of S.A. Yesenin was attributed as a photograph dated by 1925. The portrait was not printed on photographic paper, but on typographic paper, since it is too thin and puffy, with no emulsion or barite layers. Microscopy of the image showed that the portrait was printed by phototype, i. e., it is a high-quality reproduction from a photograph. This portrait is one of a series of photos with S.A. Yesenin, made in Baku in photo studio of L.G. Bregadze in 1924. Thus it is revealed that the portrait of S.A. Yesenin under investigation is a reproduction of a photograph, printed on a sheet of offset paper, cut out from a book, brochure or magazine. The date of the portrait was revised: 1924, not 1925, as printed under the portrait.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – Yu.L. Kosenkova Transformations of the hypothetical model of human in urban planning of the Soviet period

Recent decades of historical studies devoted to the everyday practices of a Soviet individual have revealed a depressing picture of a chronic discrepancy between the interests, needs and sometimes the most pressing demands of people and the nature of surrounding city environment. In the article, this situation is considered as if from the opposite side — what were the positions of the professional community of Soviet architects and urban planners who created said environment.