THE MADONNA CON BAMBINO E SAN GIOVANNI FROM MUSEO DIOCESANO OF PALERMO, ITALY: SCIENTIFIC STUDIES FOR A CONSERVATIVE RESTORATION

The present research focuses on a painting on wood representing the Madonna con Bambino e San Giovanni, attributed to an unknown artist belonging to the Cretan-Venetian school, dated to the end of 16th century. The aim of the study is to provide a complete knowledge of the characteristics of the artefact in order to plane and perform a procedure according to conservative restoration. Historical and artistic evaluations and technical investigations were carried out for identifying the context, the constitutive materials and the executive techniques. The study was supported by the application of non-invasive (multispectral investigations and X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy) and analytical techniques (Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy).