ABSTRACT
The purpose of the present study is to deepen our knowledge about the painting materials and technology characteristics of iconography during the Bulgarian National Revival. Our efforts have focused on studying the murals in the catholicon (main church) "The Nativity of the Virgin" of the Rila Monastery, which is one of Bulgarian leading historical monuments. A series of micro samples from the altar mural paintings were analyzed by a combination of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), micro-Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Optical microscopy (OM). The data analysis showed that the painter's palette is made up of nine mineral pigments: smalt, chrome yellow, emerald green, vermilion, red lead, green earths, yellow ochre, sienna and calcite. The impression of rich colorful palette was achieved by using various pigment mixtures. The presence of egg binder in many paint samples suggested that the murals were executed by the traditional egg tempera technique, with the only exception of the smalt paint of the background where carbohydrate glue is present as binder.
ABSTRACT
A profound study of samples obtained from Thracian tomb wall paintings at Alexandrovo, Bulgaria (dating back to the fourth century BC) were carried out by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FTIR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The current work provides a glimpse of the ingenious construction and painting techniques used in Thracian tomb at Alexandrovo. The results suggest that beeswax was used as a paint binder and also revealed presence of various nano-materials.
