Browsing by Author "Melo, Helena Pinheiro de"
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- Images in transformation: The color and its change in a group of Portuguese paintings from the second half of the 16th centuryPublication . Melo, Helena Pinheiro de; Cruz, António João; Sanyova, Jana; Valadas, Sara; Cardoso, Ana Margarida; Candeias, AntónioFour panel paintings depicting episodes related to the birth of Christ and attributed to the Portuguese mannerist painter Francisco João (doc. 1558–1585) were found to exhibit a muted palette that had no correspondence with the traditionally vivid colors used in the sixteenth century to represent joyful biblical events. Complementing previous research on the disruption and loss of the red glazes in these paintings, the investigation focused on the analysis of materials, painting technique and degradation issues that further affected the original paintings, changing the viewer's perception and understanding of these artworks. The investigation combined the visual examination of the painting surface with microscopic and spectroscopic analysis of the binder and pigments. A conventional palette made of lead white, lead-tin yellow, ochres, vermilion, verdigris, smalt, azurite, carbon black and a red lake made of brazilwood and cochineal was identified. The pigments were bound in an oil-based medium. Chemical and physical alterations detected in paints rich in smalt and verdigris were found to be responsible for color changes affecting significant areas of the compositions. The presence of moisture and the reaction between pigment and binder leading, among other products, to soap and oxalate formation, played a central role in the long-term behavior of the paint film. Understanding the main degradation processes involved and their consequences is crucial when interpreting an artists' color palette and designing the best approach to preserve these paintings.
- Italian Influence in a Portuguese Mannerist Painting (Part I): A New Palette with Original Orange and Green PigmentsPublication . Melo, Helena Pinheiro de; Valadas, Sara; Cruz, António João; Cardoso, Ana Margarida; Miguel, Catarina; Manhita, Ana; Helvaci, Yigit Zafer; Dias, Cristina Barrocas; Candeias, AntónioThe palette used by the Portuguese painter Pedro Nunes (1586–1637) in the large panel depicting The Descent from the Cross (460 × 304 cm) painted in 1620 for Évora’s cathedral was investigated with a combination of the visual inspection of the paint surface and the analysis of the paint layers with microscopic, spectroscopic, and chromatographic techniques. Green earth and an orange artificial arsenic sulphide, two pigments identified for the first time in Portuguese paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were found to be abundantly used in large areas of the composition. The results further reveal the choice of a rich palette also containing lead-white, lead-tin yellow, ochre, vermilion, verdigris, smalt, azurite, vegetable carbon black, and a red lake made of brazilwood and cochineal. All the pigments were bound in an oil-based medium. The introduction of two pigments new to the Portuguese conventional palette is a direct consequence of the painter’s training in Rome in the first decade of the seventeenth century.
- Italian Influence in a Portuguese Mannerist Painting (Part II): A Matter of Image or a Matter of Technique?Publication . Melo, Helena Pinheiro de; Cruz, António João; Valadas, Sara; Cardoso, Ana Margarida; Helvaci, Yigit Zafer; Candeias, AntónioThe panel depicting The Descent from the Cross, painted in 1620 by the Portuguese artist Pedro Nunes (1586-1637), shows a clear Italian formal influence. The painter’s colour palette was identified in another paper. The panel is now investigated from a technical perspective, discussing aspects related to the support, preparatory system, and paint layer build-up. The research is based on the visual inspection of the painting’s surface with complementary imaging techniques and on the analysis of the materials from the preparatory layers with microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The characterisation of the painting technique revealed an ingenious use of colour that is based on the understanding of the optical and handling properties of oil paint. This knowledge is illustrated by the painter’s ability to exploit and combine a range of different oil painting techniques, such as glazing, scumbling, wet-in-wet, or wet-in-dry painting; by his formulation of a wide variety of pigment mixtures; and by his use of diverse and often complex layering systems - some quite unconventional for Portuguese painting practice. The material and technical originality of this painting clearly reflects Nunes’ international Roman experience and his desire to update the Portuguese mainstream practice of his time.
- Regraxar or glazing: aspects of this technique in a group of Portuguese paintings attributed to Francisco João (active 1563 95)Publication . Melo, Helena Pinheiro de; Cruz, António João; Sanyova, Jana; Candeias, António; Mirão, José; Valadas, Sara
- The Drawing Hand of a Portuguese Mannerist PainterPublication . Melo, Helena Pinheiro de; Cruz, António João; Valadas, Sara; Candeias, Antóniohe materials and graphical layout of the underdrawing of two sets of paintings attributed, on stylistic grounds, to the workshop of the Portuguese painter Francisco João (doc. 1558-1595) were investigated using infrared reflectography. Two types of underdrawing were found. Comparison between each group of paintings enabled to identify a characteristic drawing style that can be of assistance in future studies on the work of Francisco João. Material evidence related to the painting technique and the underdrawing layout suggests that the painter was responsible for both the underdrawing and the painting stage. This relevant information sheds new light into the working conditions of regional mannerist Portuguese workshops and contributes with material data to the scarce information on these issues found in historic documentary sources.