An Integrated Numerical-Experimental Approach to Predict Aging and Degradation of Oil Paintings

Oil paintings age with time. This is due to complex physical and chemical processes that lead to changes in the visual appearance and threaten the integrity and longevity of the artworks. The goal of this project is to advance the fundamental understanding of chemo-mechanical aging mechanisms occurring in oil paint and to predict their consequences on painting degradation. This is done by developing a novel integrated computational-experimental research strategy. Focus will be put on the modelling of the chemical aging phenomena of ion migration, hydrolysis and metal soap formation and on the understanding of their influence on the degradation of the paint film. At the same time, the age-dependent mechanical response of naturally and accelerated aged oil paint will be experimentally determined by means of quantitative measurements combined with in-situ observations of deformation and failure mechanisms. The fundamental knowledge generated in this project aims at supporting informed conservation decisions and preventive conservation policies for museum collections.

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