Wall Drawing #736: Revealing Sol LeWitt’s Ink Mural Technique Using a Multi-Analytical Approach
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Contemporary Inks from the Marescalchi Archive
2.2. Technical Information from the 2011 Interview with Andrea Marescalchi
2.3. Technical Information from the 2011 Interview with Andrea Marescalchi
- Samples 1, 2, and 8 were fragments detached from the wall;
- Samples 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were selectively collected to fully characterise the materials used in the wall drawing.
2.4. Apparatus
2.4.1. Raman Spectroscopy
2.4.2. Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS)
2.4.3. Pyrolysis Coupled to Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (Py–GC–MS and Py(HMDS)–GC–MS)
2.4.4. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC–DAD–ESI-Q-ToF)
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Marescalchi Archive Inks
3.1.1. Chemical Investigation of Binders and Additives
- A/P (azelaic acid/palmitic acid) is commonly evaluated to investigate the occurrence of drying oils (A/P > 1), since the formation of dicarboxylic acids (peaking with azelaic acid) production occurs during the curing and ageing of drying oil. As for the black and blue inks, A/P < 1 values were observed. The lipids observed in their chromatograms cannot be associated with a siccative oil, and their presence can thus be associated to free acids of shellac resin, given that Py–GC–MS analysis already excluded the presence of egg, another common source of lipids in binding media. Conversely, A/P > 1 was observed in the red and yellow inks, consistent with a molecular profile typical of drying oils;
- P/S (palmitic acid/stearic acid) is a chemical parameter commonly used to differentiate drying oils based on the different relative abundance of the two main saturated monocarboxylic acids. The quantitative analysis performed for the red and yellow inks provided us with a P/S ratio values of 1.6 and 1.1, respectively, compatible with linseed oil, whose presence cannot be fully ascertained since mixtures cannot be excluded [35];
- % ∑D percentage (dicarboxylic acids sum/total free acids) and O/S (oleic acid/stearic acid) are chemical parameters useful to evaluate the degree of ageing/curing, since oleic acid is highly reactive towards oxidation, and as stated above dicarboxylic acids are auto-oxidation products. The values achieved (O/S = 0.7, for both red and yellow inks) suggest a partial oxidation of the lipid binder, consistent with the fact that the archive inks are quite contemporary (80s–90s) and were in liquid form when cast on the glass slides as mock-ups, which were further sampled and analysed just after few weeks; notably, we determined a higher ageing degree for the red ink (% ∑D = 50) than for the yellow one (% ∑D = 36).
3.1.2. Investigation of Dyes and Pigments
3.2. Samples from Wall Drawing #736
- PBMA in all the samples collected selectively from the surface (samples 5, 6, and 7);
- PBMA + PVAc in the samples obtained as fragments (degradation of the wall drawing), thus composed by both the coloured ink’s layers and the white preparation (Samples 1, 2, and 8).
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Label | Description | Sample Fragment | Label | Description | Sample Fragment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | BRB: collected from the floor below one of the blue areas: fragment with layers of blue and red inks on a white base preparation. | 2 | RYG: collected from the floor below one of the red areas: fragment with layers of red, yellow, and grey inks on a white base preparation. | ||
Label | Description | Sampling spot | Label | Description | Sampling spot |
3 | White preparation layer without fixative. | 4 | White preparation layer with fixative. | ||
5 | YY: selective surface sampling of yellow ink. Probable traces of black ink and fixative. | 6 | GG: selective surface sampling of grey ink (black ink diluted 1:60 in water). Probable traces of fixative. | ||
7 | RRR: selective surface sampling of yellow ink. Probable traces of black ink and fixative. | 8 | RGG: fragment with layers of red and black inks on a white base preparation. |
Archive Ink | Pigments | Binder/Additives |
---|---|---|
Black | Carbon black | Animal glue, shellac resin, paraffin wax, 1,6-hexanediol |
Blue | PB 15:3 | Animal glue, shellac resin |
Yellow | PY3, PY13 | Animal glue, shellac resin, siccative oil |
Red | PR149, PR11, unknown naphthol AS pigment | Animal glue (?), shellac resin, siccative oil |
Material | Pyrolysis Products | tr (min) | m/z | Samples | ||||||||||||
G | B | Y | R | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ||||
PB 15:3 | 1,2-dicyanobenzene | 12.9 | 128, 101, 75 | x | ||||||||||||
Benzonitrile | 15.7 | 103, 76, 50 | x | |||||||||||||
O-cyanobenzoic acid | 16.5 | 147, 76, 104 | x | |||||||||||||
PY13 | 2,4-dimethylaniline | 14.5 | 121, 106, 120 | x | ||||||||||||
N-(2,4-dimethylphenyl) formamide | 14.6 | 147, 118, 132 | x | x | ||||||||||||
N-(2,4-dimethylphenyl) acetamide | 16.8 | 121, 106, 163 | x | x | ||||||||||||
3,3′-dichlorobiphenyl-4-amine | 19.8 | 237, 239, 167 | x | |||||||||||||
PR149 | m-xylene | 11.5 | 91, 106, 77 | x | ||||||||||||
Benzo[c,d]indol-2(1H)-one | 17.1 | 169, 144, 140 | x | |||||||||||||
Naphthol AS pigment | Toluene | 9.9 | 91, 65, 39 | x | ||||||||||||
Phenol | 12.8 | 94, 66, 39, 55 | x | |||||||||||||
p-aminotoluene | 13.7 | 106, 77, 51 | x | |||||||||||||
2-naphthol | 16.7 | 144, 115 | x | |||||||||||||
Animal glue | Pyrrole | 10.6 | 67, 39, 52 | x | ||||||||||||
Toluene | 10.9 | 91, 65, 39 | x | |||||||||||||
3-methyl-1H-pyrrole | 12.1 | 53, 80 | x | |||||||||||||
Hexahydro-pyrrole [1,2-a] pyrazine-1, 4-dione | 18.8 | 111, 83, 154, 70, 91, 48, 126 | x | |||||||||||||
Shellac resin | Butolic acid-TMS * | 33.0 | 373, 357, 275, 215, 185, 157, 87 | x | ||||||||||||
PVAc (polyvinyl acetate) | Acetone | 5.4 | 43, 58 | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||||
Acetic acid | 7.2 | 43, 60 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Benzene | 7.9 | 78, 51, 39 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Toluene | 9.9 | 91, 65, 39, 51 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Ethylbenzene | 11.4 | 91, 106, 51, 77 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Styrene | 1.,8 | 104, 78, 51, 63 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Indene | 13.5 | 115, 89, 63, 58, 39 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
1-methyl indene | 14.4 | 130, 115, 51, 64, 77, 39, 102 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
3-methyl indene | 14.5 | 130, 115, 51, 64, 77, 39, 102 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Naphthalene | 14.7 | 128, 102, 51, 39 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
2-methyl naphthalene | 15.5 | 142, 115, 63, 89 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
1-methyl naphthalene | 15.6 | 142, 115, 63, 89 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
Acenaphthene | 15.9 | 154, 76, 115, 128, 51, 63, 102 | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||
PBMA (poly (n-butyl methacrylate)) | 1-butene | 4.9 | 41, 56 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||
Benzene | 7.9 | 78, 63 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
Methyl methacrylate | 8.8 | 41, 69, 100, 85, 59 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
Methacrylic acid | 10.8 | 39, 86, 58 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
n-butyl methacrylate | 12.7 | 69, 87, 41, 56, 29, 99, 113 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
PEA (poly (ethyl acrylate)) | Ethanol | 5.2 | 31, 45 | x | ||||||||||||
Ethyl acrylate | 8.5 | 55, 45, 99, 73 | x | |||||||||||||
Ethyl methacrylate | 10.7 | 69, 41, 99, 84, 114 | x | |||||||||||||
Diethyl glutarate | 15.1 | 143, 115, 87, 55, 73, 101 | x | |||||||||||||
Dimer | 15.5 | 98, 154, 53, 81, 109 | x | |||||||||||||
Trimer | 18.2 | 134, 208, 255, 79, 181, 106, 152, 55, 125, 226 | x |
Material | %Ala | %Gly | %Val | %Leu | %Ile | %Ser | %Pro | %Phe | %Asp | %Glu | %Hyp |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue ink | 3.9 | 3.0 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 9.7 | 12.7 | 4.8 | 11.4 | 9.7 | 11.8 | 20.5 |
Black ink | 5.4 | 12.4 | 3.6 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 32.3 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 6.9 | 11.7 |
Yellow ink | 16.0 | 8.8 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 7.7 | 11.1 | 3.9 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 9.7 | 16.5 |
Casein | 5.0 | 3.0 | 7.6 | 11.9 | 6.6 | 5.8 | 11.5 | 5.9 | 8.5 | 22.2 | 0.0 |
Egg | 7.7 | 4.8 | 7.7 | 11.0 | 6.7 | 10.3 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 12.6 | 15.0 | 0.0 |
Animal glue | 12.3 | 29.4 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 12.4 | 2.8 | 6.6 | 9.9 | 7.7 |
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Ferretti, A.; Degano, I.; Filomena, M.; La Nasa, J.; Campanella, B.; Legnaioli, S.; Penoni, S.; Pintus, R.; Todaro, C.; Modugno, F. Wall Drawing #736: Revealing Sol LeWitt’s Ink Mural Technique Using a Multi-Analytical Approach. Heritage 2024, 7, 4265-4281. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7080201
Ferretti A, Degano I, Filomena M, La Nasa J, Campanella B, Legnaioli S, Penoni S, Pintus R, Todaro C, Modugno F. Wall Drawing #736: Revealing Sol LeWitt’s Ink Mural Technique Using a Multi-Analytical Approach. Heritage. 2024; 7(8):4265-4281. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7080201
Chicago/Turabian StyleFerretti, Adele, Ilaria Degano, Marta Filomena, Jacopo La Nasa, Beatrice Campanella, Stefano Legnaioli, Sara Penoni, Renata Pintus, Cristiana Todaro, and Francesca Modugno. 2024. "Wall Drawing #736: Revealing Sol LeWitt’s Ink Mural Technique Using a Multi-Analytical Approach" Heritage 7, no. 8: 4265-4281. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7080201