ABSTRACT
The identification of paint components is essential to document the fabrication processes of contemporary artworks, and more broadly to contribute to their preservation. Manuel Eiris realized two paintings meant to be identical, respectively in 2013 and 2015. The canvases show signs of differential ageing behavior (e.g. a gold surface is darker than the other). Ten heterogeneous layers were applied on the canvas by the artist, and only after four years from their production the stability of the surface layers has been questioned by the CGAC conservators. FTIR-ATR, DSC and SEM-EDX analyses of eight samples from the two works report that only four out of ten materials listed by the artist could be identified, namely, gouache, teak oil, poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), and gold spray. Further, artificial photo-ageing tests of reference commercial materials provided informative data on color changes, monitored through spectrophotometer.
