Paintings mechanical response to an out-of-plane force
Applying a force applied to the surface of a painting (be it front or back) is the standard method to an empirical information about its tension on stretcher. Doing it by hand does not provide measurable nor repeatable data. In 2002, a method was used to establish a correlation between tension and displacement, also taking […]
Flexural testing
The flexural modulus (Ef) is a special case for the tensile modulus E, describing the resistance the material offers to bending. The resistance to bending depends on the distance between the two supports (correlated to length of the sample) and the point of application of the force at the center, but also on the thickness […]
Historical textiles morphological and mechanical characterization
Destructive tensile tests on naturally aged, historical textiles, is rarely carried out. The biaxial tensile testing device, designed to work on the relatively small samples size of 1 cm2, allowed working with 3 to 5 repetitions. The group of specimens tested are all plain canvas including a selvedge, and are described in following table. Biaxial […]
Characterization of traditional Italian lining canvases
The “patta” and “pattina” are linen canvases originally used for sieving cheese, defined “rarole”, because of the open weave texture. The distance between the yarns, and the resulting low crimp, provides good dimensional stability and low shrinkage. When good quality linen is used, tensile mechanical properties can be excellent also at low stresses. The two […]
Lining of canvas paintings
The treatment of the painting by Titian, “David and Goliath” triggered the research on lining methods in 2011. Research started from a modified “mist lining”, adapted to withstand the high temperatures of Italian summers and to favor reproducibility. The lining system is being progressively modified, changing the adhesives and their application methods, the treatment of the lining […]
Morphological and mechanical characterization of canvas paintings supports (Ph.D.)
The Ph.D. was initially based on the use a sound wave and a scanning vibrometer as a noninvasive setup to quantify the mechanical response of the painting and a FEM to measure its tension on stretcher, as a natural continuation of the previous research. Mechanical data to implement the FEM was needed, and the design […]
Elastic tension of canvas paintings
Started studying the interaction of canvas paintings with their stretchers in 1991, proposing a method to conserve the original stretchers while supplying measured elastic tension to the painting, first published in 1996. Research continued between 2000 and 2004, studying the correlations between tension and the mechanical response of a painting, collecting data about 10 historical […]
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