IN SITU DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND HALF OF XVIII CENTURY “MORTE DI SANT’ORSOLA" PANEL PAINTING COMING FROM CHIESA DEI SANTI LEONARDO E ERASMO ROCCAGORGA (LT, ITALY)

By meansof combined use of non-destructive and non-invasive in situ analysis, diagnostic research has been carried outon pigments and underlayersused to fabricate anoil painting representing the “Morte di Santa Orsola”, corresponding to the second half of XVIII century, from the churchofSaints Leonardo andErasmo (Roccagorga - Latina, Italy). The aim of the work has been the evaluation of the materials employed and the state of conservationof the artwork.The structural and morphological properties of the painting were defined in detail using different and complementary analysis such asUV-Vis-P, IR-R, ED-XRF, Raman,DRS andFT-IR.The results showed that the palette was composed mainly of ochre and earth pigments except forthe blue, red and white hatchings, constituted respectively asPrussian blue, cinnabar and white lead.At the time, the preparatoryunderlayer essentially had a gypsum, animal glue and white lead composition. Moreover, using infrared reflectography it was possible to discover a pentimentoof the artist during the creative process. Such valuable informationallowed the conservators to better understand the features of painting from a conservation point of view in order to define the best restoration strategy.