Analysis of painting Victor Meirelles’ “Passagem de Humaitá” by XRF

Renato Pereira de Freitas Pereira de Freitas; Valter Souza Felix; Marcelo Oliveira Pereira

doi:10.15392/bjrs.v9i1A.1371

Authors

Renato Pereira de Freitas Pereira de Freitas Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6011-0920
Valter Souza Felix
Marcelo Oliveira Pereira

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15392/bjrs.v9i1A.1371

Keywords:

XRF, historical pigments, archeometry

Abstract

Analysis of historical artifacts, it's a multidisciplinary field of research known as archaeometry, has expanded greatly in recent years. One of the reasons for this expansion was the great effort of physicists and engineers, who focused on the development of portable instruments, that allow analyses in situ and non-destructive of these artifacts. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) is techniques of the most used in this field of study. In this work the XRF was used to analysis the artwork "Passagem de Humaitá", by the Brazilian painter Victor Meirelles, dated 1872. The painting, which has dimensions of 268 cm x 405 cm, is exposed at National Historical Museum located in Rio de Janeiro. The analyses were carried out in situ with portable XRF system model TRACER IV from Bruker, which has Rh anode and can operate with maximum voltage and current of 40 kV and 200 μA. Spectra of more than 80 points of the painting were obtained, with the tube operating at voltage of 40 kV and a current of 10 μA, and the spectra were collected during 60 seconds. The results allowed to conclude that the painter used pigments such as vermilion and/or cinnabar [HgS], calcite [CaCO₃], zinc white [ZnO], lead white [(PbCO₃)₂·Pb(OH)₂], red ocher [Fe₂O₃], brown umbra [Fe₂O₃.MnO₂].

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Author Biography

Renato Pereira de Freitas Pereira de Freitas, Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro

Possui graduação em física pela Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro e mestrado e doutorado em Engenharia Nuclear pela COPPE/UFRJ é professor de Física efetivo do ensino técnico e tecnológico do Instituto Federal de Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro. Trabalha com Fluorescência de Raios X, Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura, Difração de Raios X, Espectroscopia no Infravermelho e Espectroscopia Raman aplicadas à arqueometria, além disso é especialista em tratamento de dados por estatística multivariada. Realizou estágio de pós-doutorado no Laboratório Móvel de Bens Culturais (MOLAB) do Instituto de Tecnologia Molecular do Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa da Itália (ISTM-CNR), na Universidade de Perugia, trabalhando em projetos associados análise de obras de artes in situ pela técnica de macro escaneamento por Fluorescência de Raios X (Macro-XRF), com bolsa CAPES. Atualmente é membro permanente do Mestrado Nacional Profissional de Ensino de Física Polo Volta Redonda e bolsista Jovem Cientista do Nosso Estado da FAPERJ.

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