Diagnostic and historical-iconographic study on frescos in Palazzo Maioli (Ravenna)

Abstract

The pictures discovered in Ravenna at Maioli Palace (Ravenna) have been subjected to an analytical survey, both during and after the works of a restoration performed at the Restoration Laboratory. This building, set during the time of the Venetian rule in the town of Romagna (1447-1509), belonged for centuries to the noble Maioli Family, that had come from Faenza. The walls, taken into consideration, show four "pictured levels", i.e. four different times about when the four pictures have been performed. The first one refers to the construction period of the building, the second one is the one studied, the third one can be connected to the Seventeenth century, according to the stylistic details of the Pompeian period. While the forth one is dated back to the end of the Eighteenth century, since the decorative part is typical of that time (with "decorative part" we refer to the "stencil" decorations, i.e. applications of pictures, inks or colours by means of special little masks). The experimental study carried out on two kinds of pictured samples (chosen according to their kind of pigments i.e.: yellow and black) as focused on: the colorimetry, in order to determine the components of the chromaticity; the fluorescence spectrometry to X ray, to characterize the pigments used; the thermal analysis with the goal of finding out the kind of plaster; the video-microscopy to get documentary and cognitive purposes. A systematic analysis of the pictures was justified both by the will of finding the pictorial technique of the painter, and by the wish to be able to date them back to the period of their creation, since at the moment, there is no documentation about these issues.