THE PANEL PAINTING OF SAINT MARK BY THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ARTIST 'THE BALLETTA' A STUDY FOR THE RESTORATION

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the panel painting representing Saint Mark exhibited in the Diocesan Museum of Colle del Duomo in Viterbo. The panel painting has never been investigated before this study; therefore, we would like to obtain information about the painting technique and the wood support in the view of a possible restoration that is desirable due to the poor state of preservation of the artwork. The panel painting was attributed by art historians to the Italian Renaissance artist Francesco D'Antonio Zacchi, well-known as 'The Balletta', operating in Central Italy during the 15th century. The painting representing Saint Mark may be considered a late work of the artist probably realized before 1476, supposed year of 'The Balletta' death. The artwork was investigated by different analytical techniques. The wood support was identified as poplar; the panel painting's materials were analysed by ultraviolet fluorescence photography (UVF) and Hypercolorimetric multispectral imaging (HMI), this last covering a spectral range from about 300 to 1000 nm. The UVF technique allowed to map the conservation status of the panel painting highlighting grouting and retouching; the HMI gave information about pigments such as cinnabar/vermilion, azurite, ironbased pigments and lead white, and made it possible to map the distribution of the painting materials through the algorithms of the processing software included into the HMI system.