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    Research Areas Areas

    Technological research of Medieval Russian painting

    This area of research is dedicated to the development of the methods for studying the techniques of Russian medieval paintings, including frescoes from medieval temples. The methods are based on the usage of optical spectroscopy and tomography for determining the main features of the art objects: time, place and methods of paint production, types of pigment and its preparation technologies. The main studied period is the Russian medieval art of the North-West, but the methodology under development is universal and can be applied to historical and cultural objects of other periods. The investigated items are cultural heritage objects of the State Russian Museum collection. Some icons are also taken from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and from Novgorod churches. The techniques of these paintings are interesting and important for the art historians, but difficult to research. The icons and frescoes can be in different preservation states, done anonymously and renovated in a traditional Russian way. The other two questions to investigate are poor documented restoration of the early 20th century, and, on the contrary, exceptional restoration of the second half of the 20th century. The main goal of study is to create the research method for Russian medieval art with the application of modern, non-destructive technologies. The key step for understanding the process of restoration and the capabilities of the proposed methods is experiments on cleaning the icons surfaces, conducted by the laboratory together with restorers. This helps us in further modernization of the methods, with a respect to the restorers’ and art historians’ requirements.

    Investigation of historical Russian art glass objects

    The topic of early Russian art glass production is also poorly studied from the technological point of view. Therefore, Heritage Science laboratory research is dedicated to art glass objects preservation and its diseases. The development of modern methods of conservation and non-invasive techniques for investigation is also aim of the laboratory study. The different art glass pieces are being studied. The specific expertise is being developed on this material. For historical glassware investigation the techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, LIBS, Raman, and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) are going to be applied. This research area is dedicated to the purposes of museum storage and is aimed on achieving better knowledge of the historical technologies of Russian art glass production. The research of early Russian works of art glass merges with another topic of great importance for the history of Russian art, namely, materials of architectural archaeology, primarily glazed ceramics. A systematic analysis of architectural fragments, comparison of their technological data with dated samples is necessary for the development of a modern dating technique.  

    Russian avant-garde techniques investigation

    The focus of this research area is techniques of Russian avant-garde masters and the identification of technologies for artificial aging of painting layers. The art of this period, unfortunately, is often being faked. Thus, a successful solution to the forgeries problem is systematic study of object materiality in various Russian cultural collections.  For this reason, the research area is aimed on the development of methods for identifying forgeries of Russian avant-garde paintings, based on the usage of optical spectroscopy and tomography methods. Moreover, it includes testing the applicability of these techniques for determining the composition of paints and development of methods for defining artificial aging of canvases and paints. The pigments of the Russian avant-garde are investigated in order to develop an effective method of attribution of artworks. The idea is exploring the technological characteristics of art works using a variety of tools and creating a reference database. This scientific approach can help in material analysis and determination of the safety of an object, which are important steps in identification of the XX century painting forgeries. These issues are of national importance today.

    Last publications Publications

    2024 year
    • Андреев И.И., Асеев В.А., Сирро С.В.

      ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ЛАЗУРИТА МЕТОДОМ ИНФРАКРАСНОЙ ФУРЬЕ СПЕКТРОСКОПИИ - 2024

    2023 year
    • Leonidova A., Aseev V.A., Prokuratov D., Jolshin D., Khodasevich M.

      Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Quantitative Analysis of the Chemical Composition of Historical Lead Silicate Glasses // Quantum Beam Science - 2023, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 24

    • Prokuratov D., Samohvalov A., Pankin D., Vereshchagin O., Kurganov N., Povolotckaia A., Shimko A., Mikhailova A., Balmashnov R., Reveguk A., Smolyanskaya O.A., Redka D., Bobrovs V.

      Investigation towards Laser Cleaning of Corrosion Products from Lead Objects // Heritage - 2023, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 1293-1307

    2022 year
    • Andreev I.I., Sirro S.V., Lykina A., Smolyanskaya A.A., Minin A.V., Kravtsenyuk O., Menu M., Smolyanskaya O.A.

      Necessity and Use of a Multilayer Test Object Based on an Anonymous 19th Century Copy of a Painting by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817–1900) // Heritage - 2022, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 2955-2965

    2021 year
    • Sirro S., Odlyanitskiy E., Portieri A., Taday P., Arnone D., Guillet J., Smolyanskaya O.A.

      TeraPulse Lx for terahertz imaging of painting on canvas // Journal of Physics: Conference Series - 2021, Vol. 1866, No. 1, pp. 012004

    • Volynsky M., Gladkova E.S., Gurov I.P., Zhukova E.V., Margaryants N.B., Sirro S.V., Skakov P.S.

      Condition diagnosing easel tempera paintings by the high-resolution optical coherence tomography method // Journal of Optical Technology - 2021, Vol. 88, No. 8, pp. 435-440

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