title: Contemporary artists' spinel pigments: Non-invasive characterization by means of electronic spectroscopy.
abstract: The identification of artistic materials represents a fundamental step in supporting the conservation of cultural heritage objects. The importance of their appropriate characterization is particularly relevant in modern-contemporary art, since they could be affected by the occurrence of rapid changes in chemical formulation over time. This paper focuses on an investigation of a series of contemporary blue-green commercial acrylic paints constituted of spinel pigments, using non-invasive spectroscopic techniques. The spectroscopic and color measurements obtained make it possible to characterize the acrylic paints under investigation and to compare the results obtained with those reported in the literature and in spectral databases. To be more precise, the proposed UV-vis-NIR reflectance spectroscopic technique was sensitive enough to characterize the acrylic paints according to their d-d ligand field and the charge transfer (CT) electronic transitions involved in the spinel structures. In addition, an overview of this class of inorganic pigments is also given.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. Electronic address: e.angelin@campus.fct.unl.pt.
authors.forename: Eva Mariasole
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Angelin
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacci
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bartolozzi
authors.affiliation: Istituto per la Conservazione e la Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ICVBC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cantisani
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Picollo
keywords: Acrylic paints; Contemporary art; Electronic transitions; Spinel pigments; UV–vis-NIR spectroscopy; XRD; XRF