The authors of the present work have carried out studies on the use of disc electrophoresis on polyacrylamid gel to analyze protein binders. Standard electrophoregrams were made of seven binders (hide glue, gelatine, sturgeon glue, egg white, egg yolk, glue from oats and from rye flour). The proteins were then subjected to aging by means of UV radiation, oxygen and temperature. The results obtained have shown the usefulness of the examined method as a way of identifying protein binders. The only identification problem was to differentiate hide glue from gelatine, although this difficulty was due to the fact that an initial protein was collagen from mammals. In the majority of cases, disc electrophoresis on polyacrylamid gel has been found very useful. One of the biggest advantages of that method is the confidence in identification and small quantities of samples necessary to make the analysis (from 20 to 50 mg of protein). It may be believed that this method shall become a compromise between the interests of conservators and of analytical chemists.
New analytical methods, especially in the field of physics and chemistry, can be applied successfully for the needs of the conservation of artworks. Neutron autoradiography, spectral emission analysis or gas chromatography, combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), proved to be very useful in examining the structure of paintings. Yet another interesting issue are the new methods of studying the binder of the painted stratum and the priming ground. The identification of the binders is essential, since it is precisely they which are decisive for the painting technique and exert an impact on the manner of painting, the plastic expression of the entire work and often its state of preservation. Their identification is of great help while making decisions concerning conservation. The conservation of the Victorious Madonna from Mariampol — Bolognese school from the sixteenth /seventeenth century — entailed the use of gas chromatography with gas spectrometry (GC-MS) — the first such occasion in Poland. The results of the identification of the binders, illustrated on an enclosed map, proved to be very interesting and highly untypical. The emulsion is composed of a wheat germ and nut oil mixture. The filling is chalk with a small addition of plaster, lead white, and orange and yellow iron compounds. The variety of the binders is the consequence of an evolutionary transformation of tempera painting into oil painting. The untypical binder of the priming ground comprises probably the legacy of old traditions adapted from Oriental art, that could have been cultivated in particular painting studios associated with Venice, which in its past had close contacts with Byzantium. This was the type of binder used by artists in Greece, Serbia and Russia. The presented sketch draws attention to the role of the new analysis, especially the GC-MS techniques, which guarantee great precision of the obtained results, at the same time compelling the conservators-researchers to continue expanding their technological knowledge.
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