Spectroscopic and Imaging Analyses on Easel Paintings by Giovanni Santi

Featured Application The results from this research paper contribute to the knowledge of Renaissance painting materials and techniques allowing the implementation of the central Italy Renaissance painting database. The most important painter from Urbino in the last decades of the 15th century (1439 ab.-1494) was Giovanni Santi, the father of Raphael. The lack of scientific literature about Santi's practice and the possible peculiar role of Urbino in the development of painting techniques in northern Italy suggested in-depth investigations of the entire corpus of his paintings. A well-established sequence of multispectral imaging, spectroscopic and microscopic investigations was performed on 24 wood panel paintings and 2 canvases attributed by most scholars to Giovanni Santi (1439 ab.-1494) to collect a large set of significant data. This systematic research allowed his painting technique to be defined, starting from the type of supports he used and from the features of the underdrawing, which quite frequently included characteristic regular hatching. The pigments used were widely investigated by means of ED-XRF and reflectance spectroscopy (vis-RS); a meaningful multivariate statistical method (PCA and HCA analysis) was also applied to the ED-XRF dataset acquired for representative hues. In particular, the vis-RS technique proved to be a simple and effective diagnostic tool to detect many pigments, including indigo, and to distinguish between two different types of red lakes, avoiding sampling and more complex analyses. Santi used lead white, Fe-Mn-based pigments, vermilion, red lake, natural blue ultramarine, azurite, copper-based green pigments (particularly verdigris), lead-tin yellow, scarcely ever orpiment and, in a few green mixtures, also indigo. Despite the palette being linked to tradition, the master appeared to introduce some peculiarities, such as the addition of glass powder, and mixing pigments both in a traditional way and using them to create chromatic effects unusual for his time. This research confirmed that the systematic use of the integrated non-invasive methods is highly representative, and the results of this wide diagnostic campaign provided a significant dataset which allowed the implementation of a scientific database related to central Italy Renaissance paintings and materials.

Automated summary

This research contributes to the understanding of Renaissance painting materials and techniques, and enables the implementation of a database related to central Italy Renaissance paintings. Investigations on Giovanni Santi's paintings reveal his painting technique, including the type of supports and underdrawing features. Various non-invasive methods, such as multispectral imaging and spectroscopy, were used to analyze the pigments used by Santi, while statistical analysis methods were applied to the acquired dataset to identify characteristic hues and pigments.