Characterization of bile acids and fatty acids from ox bile in oil paintings by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Characterization of ox bile, traditionally used in painting, is of interest in the fields of archaeometry and conservation and restoration of works of art. Bile acids, fatty acids (F), and cholesterol found in ox bile have been identified using a derivatization method that combines the formation of ethyl esters from the carboxylic groups and the trimethylsilyl ethers from hydroxyl groups. This method of analysis is consistent with these others proposed by the authors to analyze drying oils, proteins, and diterpenic resins usually used as binders and varnishes by the painters. Bile acids from binary samples such as animal glue/ox bile, casein/ox bile and Arabic gum/ox bile have been successfully analyzed using the proposed method. Finally, a method of analysis of mixtures of drying oil and ox bile has been also proposed attempting to quantitatively characterize samples in which ox bile was added to the drying oil for increasing the surfactant properties.

Analytical study of proteinaceous binding media in works of art by gas chromatography using alkyl chloroformates as derivatising agents.

In this work, we present the results obtained in an analytical study of the different types of proteinaceous binding media most commonly used in paintings, using GC-FID as the technique of analysis and GC-MS as a confirmatory technique. The application of this methodology requires prior hydrolysis of the proteins in the binding media to obtain free amino acids and then volatile derivatives, in this case by reaction with chloroformates due to advantages of speed, safety and the aqueous medium in which the reaction occurs. The method proposed for the proteinaceous binding media study is to calculate the proportions of the different amino acids with respect to alanine. This method provided good characterisation of different binding media, such as pork gelatine, beef gelatine, albumin, egg white and casein. The proposed method is used for the identification of binding media (including mixtures of binders) present in real samples from paintings in the city of Valencia, Spain.

Identification of lipid binders in paintings by gas chromatography. Influence of the pigments.

The influence of the presence and the type of pigments in the lipid binding media of paintings were studied by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector. The drying oils were linseed stand oil, poppy oil and sunflower oil, and the pigments studied were cadmium red, cobalt blue, tin white, lead white, chalk and plaster of Paris, commonly used in paintings. The results indicate that the stearic/palmitic ratio and the presence of pigments are quite stable during ageing. However, some differences in the oleic acid/palmitic acid ratio were found, depending on the type of pigment present in the lipid binding media. These variations are related to the drying effect of the pigments. The proposed method has been applied to the identification of drying oils in two samples from baroque paintings in the "Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados" of Valencia, Spain.

Analytical study of canvas painting collection from the Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados using SEM/EDX, FT-IR, GC and electrochemical techniques.

A new method, based on the combined use of scanning electron microscopy-x-ray microanalysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography and differential pulse voltammetry, is proposed which permits a parallel investigation of organic and inorganic materials and the characterization of the artistic technique employed in canvas painting. The proposed method has led to analyze succesfully the canvas painting collection exhibited in the Basílica de la Virgen de los Desamparados (Valencia, Spain) which includes art works from 17th to 20th century.

Electrochemical analysis of the alterations in copper pigments using charge transfer coefficient/peak potential diagrams. Application to microsamples of baroque wall paintings attached to polymer film electrodes.

The alteration of copper pigments in art samples was studied by linear scan and cyclic voltammetry using sample-modified Elvacite 2044 film electrodes on the basis of two-dimensional diagrams of charge transfer coefficients calculated from Tafel plots of reductive dissolution processes vs. peak potential. Characteristic voltammetric peaks were obtained for pigments used in the baroque vault frescoes of the Basílica de la Virgen de los Desamparados painted by Antonio Palomino. Results obtained by voltammetric techniques were compared with those from SEM/EDX and FT-IR analysis obtaining a good agreement and leaving to an unambiguous identification of pigments used by Palomino and their alteration products.

Identification by GC-FID and GC-MS of amino acids, fatty and bile acids in binding media used in works of art.

GC-FID was used as single methodology for the identification and differentiation of proteins, lipids and ox bile from binders used in artistic paintings. The samples were hydrolyzed by HCl. Subsequently, the simultaneous formation of volatile derivatives of the amino, fatty and bile acids with ethyl chloroformate was performed quickly and safely in an aqueous medium. The derivatives were separated by capillary GC and characterized by GC-MS. The ageing of drying oils was studied, identifying pelargonic acid among other degradation products. Proteinaceous and lipoid binding media were characterized by means of the quotients between the areas of the peaks for each amino or fatty acid with respect to the area of the peak for alanine or palmitic acid. Fatty acids from ox bile were easily identified by their retention times characteristic for eicosanoic, docosanoic and pentadecanoic acids. The suggested method was applied to the analysis of binders in baroque paintings by Palomino in Valencia (Spain). Animal gelatine and linseed oil were found.