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A follow-up on the analytical study of discolouration of the marble statues of Orsanmichele in Florence

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Abstract

The research complements the complex study carried out to understand the source of brown discolourations of ten marble statues in the Church of Orsanmichele in Florence, Italy. Originally located in exterior niches, the statues were restored to reverse the extensive alterations they had undergone throughout the centuries. One of the major alterations was the application of a dark brown patina that dated just after 1789. After the statues were placed indoors, brownish discolourations started to appear on their surfaces. Cross sections were examined using FTIR mapping and immunological methods. In parallel, the pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) data already obtained from the statues’ scrapings were compared with data from aged casein films applied to microscope glass slides and aged milk-treated marble. All the statues had been treated with milk-based substances before the time the bronze patina was applied. The values of temperature and illumination of the room were important factors in the ageing of organic substances and in the formation of calcium oxalates. It is likely that products of thermo-oxidation and photo-oxidation of the oils together with the oxalates caused the darkening. The marble samples corresponded to a Lunense provenance.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Roberto Boddi and Simone Porcinai of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence for their collaboration and availability to improve this research.

We are indebted to Giacinta Jean of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), to Mariarosa Lanfranchi of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, to Maura Borgnis, and to Donata Magrini and Susanna Bracci of the CNR Istituto per la Conservazione e Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali in Florence, who provided some of the lab-prepared aged samples used in this research.

Special thanks go to Annamaria Giusti, former director of the division of restoration of stone sculpture at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, who directed the statues’ restoration and provided precious advices and essential information. We express our gratitude to the colleagues of the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Pisa, Italy, who performed the analysis to determine the C and O stable isotopic ratios of marble. We thank the grant program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) for the award of an Andrew W. Mellon grant to carry out part of the study at the MMA.

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Correspondence to Daniela Pinna.

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Responsible editor: Michel Sablier

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Pinna, D., Galeotti, M., Rizzo, A. et al. A follow-up on the analytical study of discolouration of the marble statues of Orsanmichele in Florence. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 334–352 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7773-z

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