White zinc in linseed oil paintings: chemical, mechanical and aesthetic aspects

摘要

The interest of this research derived from the request for a scientific investigation of the observed phenomenon from a few contemporary artists who, in some occasions, observed the formation of craquelure in pentimento areas where a paint layer of different colour was over imposed to a zinc white layer, on commercial canvases. To investigate this phenomenon several investigations to characterize chemical and physical properties of commercial white zinc pigments were carried out: XRD, ICP/OES, SEM/EDS, FTIR, GC-MS. Moreover, several tests were performed in order to show the different behaviour of the various white pigments referring to the miscibility and to the drying times. This paper shows how the size of the pigment particles affect the formation and the type of the craquelure.