Enzo Ferroni wrote that "to preserve and to maintain also means: do not alter, or damage, or corrupt. [...] The mere storing of an object inside a case can not ensure its preservation to mean that it will not be altered. Recognizing the value of an artwork is sufficient to call for the need of storing it. In order to avoid its degradation, however, a deep knowledge of the materials that make up the object, and then of their stability or reactivity, is strictly required". Stability and reactivity of materials are concepts that inevitably imply a role of great responsibility for a scientist in the conservation of works of art. The terrible disaster occurred in 1966 in Florence, following a devastating flood, gave a strong impetus to research in the field of conservation and restoration. In those years the Institute of Chemical Physics, mainly in the person of Enzo Ferroni, gave a decisive contribution to the recovery of the mural paintings by Taddeo Gaddi in the refectory of Santa Croce church. Detachment of the paintings, in fact, could not be carried out due to the huge amount of nitrate salts impregnating the walls. Ferroni accepted a public invitation addressed by Umberto Baldini to anyone who could make a contribution in order to solve the tragic problems of conservation, and proposed the use of tributyl phosphate (TBP) as a sequestering agent of nitrates. This solution allowed completing the detachment of paintings so to that today they still can be admired. This intervention was followed by restoration of paintings by Fra Angelico in San Marco, that gave birth to the deep partnership between Enzo Ferroni and Dino Dini, a conservator and acute experimenter who contributed to the full development of the barium method, that consists of a pre-treatment with ammonium carbonate solutions followed by consolidation with barium hydroxide, so to fight the dramatic effects of paintings sulphation. Further interventions concerned restoration works on the fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, and on the frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino and Lippi in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence. Ferroni's scientific and cultural legacy is now fully expressed by the research activity of the CSGI consortium, that he has served as Honorary President until his death. The development of insights, often sparked by intense discussion with his students, led to the formulation of innovative methodologies based on modern nanoscience such as microemulsions and micellar systems for removal of polymer resins, and nanolime for the consolidation of wall paintings.

L'Esperienza dello scienziato al servizio della conservazione del patrimonio artistico: il contributo pioneristico di Enzo Ferroni al restauro / Rodorico Giorgi; Lorenza Bernini; Piero Baglioni. - STAMPA. - (2010), pp. 173-186.

L'Esperienza dello scienziato al servizio della conservazione del patrimonio artistico: il contributo pioneristico di Enzo Ferroni al restauro

GIORGI, RODORICO;BAGLIONI, PIERO
2010

Abstract

Enzo Ferroni wrote that "to preserve and to maintain also means: do not alter, or damage, or corrupt. [...] The mere storing of an object inside a case can not ensure its preservation to mean that it will not be altered. Recognizing the value of an artwork is sufficient to call for the need of storing it. In order to avoid its degradation, however, a deep knowledge of the materials that make up the object, and then of their stability or reactivity, is strictly required". Stability and reactivity of materials are concepts that inevitably imply a role of great responsibility for a scientist in the conservation of works of art. The terrible disaster occurred in 1966 in Florence, following a devastating flood, gave a strong impetus to research in the field of conservation and restoration. In those years the Institute of Chemical Physics, mainly in the person of Enzo Ferroni, gave a decisive contribution to the recovery of the mural paintings by Taddeo Gaddi in the refectory of Santa Croce church. Detachment of the paintings, in fact, could not be carried out due to the huge amount of nitrate salts impregnating the walls. Ferroni accepted a public invitation addressed by Umberto Baldini to anyone who could make a contribution in order to solve the tragic problems of conservation, and proposed the use of tributyl phosphate (TBP) as a sequestering agent of nitrates. This solution allowed completing the detachment of paintings so to that today they still can be admired. This intervention was followed by restoration of paintings by Fra Angelico in San Marco, that gave birth to the deep partnership between Enzo Ferroni and Dino Dini, a conservator and acute experimenter who contributed to the full development of the barium method, that consists of a pre-treatment with ammonium carbonate solutions followed by consolidation with barium hydroxide, so to fight the dramatic effects of paintings sulphation. Further interventions concerned restoration works on the fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, and on the frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino and Lippi in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence. Ferroni's scientific and cultural legacy is now fully expressed by the research activity of the CSGI consortium, that he has served as Honorary President until his death. The development of insights, often sparked by intense discussion with his students, led to the formulation of innovative methodologies based on modern nanoscience such as microemulsions and micellar systems for removal of polymer resins, and nanolime for the consolidation of wall paintings.
2010
9788854845985
Rendiconti della Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL – Memorie di Scienze Fisiche e Naturali
173
186
Rodorico Giorgi; Lorenza Bernini; Piero Baglioni
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/770416
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