Optoelectronic investigation of the mural paintings from Dragutesti wooden church, Arges County, Romania

This paper presents the first set of investigations on the mural paintings belonging to Dragutesti wooden church (1813-1814 A.D.) that has recently been included into the patrimony of Golesti Museum, Arges County. Conservation of a religious site of this type requires a deep analysis of materials in order to evaluate correctly the murals' state of conservation, but also for identifying the proper intervention materials that must have characteristics similar to the original ones. Aside from photographic documentation, molecular characterization was achieved via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, while functional analysis was performed with X-ray diffraction and elemental identification was performed with the help of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, aiming to obtain as much information as possible about the mortars and the pigments. The results showed the plasters from the intonaco and arriccio layers are similar, based on lime and quartz sand mortars, correlating with the traditional execution technique. Regarding the pigments used, the study revealed that cinnabar could have been used as red pigment, synthetic ultramarine as blue pigment, along with other possible iron oxides. Furthermore, a historical restoration was spotted by the detection of polyvinyl acetate. The study is an essential step towards the future restoration intervention that is of absolute necessity.