Historical anamnesis and diagnostic investigation on the oil on panel painting “Madonna with Child and Saints Jerome and Catherine from Siena” ascribed to Domenico Beccafumi (1486-1551)

Abstract

The diagnostic analyses executed on the painting “Madonna con Bambino e Santi Girolamo e Caterina da Siena”, ascribed to Beccafumi by Zeri in 1995, and datable, for stylistic considerations, in the early thirty years in 1500, allowed to analyse the executive technique, to confirm the attribution to the Sienese painter and to evaluate the preservation conditions. Diagnostic analyses have been executed by: reflectography, videomicroscopy, X-rays radiography, X-rays fluorescence spectroscopy. Analyses with gas cromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) have been executed on micro-fragments to investigate the nature of binders. The painting, not in very good conservation conditions, shows a significant degradation process in act. Effects of old and radical cleanings appear evident: these, probably, intended to solve some problems in the Beccafumi’s pictorial technique: he used to paint very quickly, leaving typical colour drippings. The main damages, in any case, seem to be caused by old and significant wood deformation.