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Although multiple structural, mechanical, and molecular factors are definitely involved in osteoporosis, the assessment of subregional bone mineral density remains the most commonly used diagnostic index. In this study, we characterized bone quality in the femoral neck of one osteoporotic patients as compared to an age-matched control subject, and so used a multiscale and multimodal approach including X-ray computed microtomography at different spatial resolutions (pixel size: 51.0, 4.95 and 0.9 µm), microindentation and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Our results showed abnormalities in the osteocytes lacunae volume (358.08 ± 165.00 for the osteoporotic sample vs. 287.10 ± 160.00 for the control), whereas a statistical difference was found neither for shape nor for density. The osteoporotic femoral head and great trochanter reported reduced elastic modulus (Es) and hardness (H) compared to the control reference (-48% (p < 0.0001) and -34% (p < 0.0001), respectively for Es and H in the femoral head and -29% (p < 0.01) and -22% (p < 0.05), respectively for Es and H in the great trochanter), whereas the corresponding values in the femoral neck were in the same range. The spectral analysis could distinguish neither subregional differences in the osteoporotic sample nor between the osteoporotic and healthy samples. Although, infrared spectroscopic measurements were comparable among subregions, and so regardless of the bone osteoporotic status, the trabecular mechanical properties were comparable only in the femoral neck. These results illustrate that bone remodeling in osteoporosis is a non-uniform process with different rates in different bone anatomical regions, hence showing the interest of a clear analysis of the bone microarchitecture in the case of patients' osteoporotic evaluation.

Historical colour charts provide a rich and often well-dated reference materials source for studying the chemical composition of all kinds of commercial brands of artists’ paints. This article presents the results of an extensive analytical study of more than 80 paint hues from 11 colour charts that are included in the German standard book Das Deutsche Farbenbuch by H. Trillich (1925, Part II). Our research focused on the identification of synthetic organic pigments, whose quickly increasing significance for artists’ paints in the early twentieth century is impossible to evaluate by documentary source research alone. A stepwise procedure combining different non- or minimally invasive vibrational spectroscopy techniques—Normal Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman spectroscopy as well as Metal Underlayer Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy—allowed the identification of 18 different organic colourants in artists’ watercolours, tempera and oil colours from six German manufacturers. In addition, micro-X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy was applied to determine the elemental pattern of substrates, fillers, and admixed inorganic pigments. In addition to a few traditional natural organic colourants (dark and rose madder lake, cochineal lake), most of the identified compounds comprised synthetic organic pigments or synthetic dyes from various chemical classes (indigo, anthraquinone, monoazo, ß-naphthol, xanthene, triarylcarbonium, nitroso, and azine compounds). Some of these have not or only rarely been reported in artists’ paints so far. Since the identified organic colourants have mainly poor to fair (only sometimes good) fastness to light according to modern standards and partially also to solvents typically used in conservation treatments, it is evident that works of art from this period should be treated keeping in mind the possible presence of such colourants, when planning both interventive treatments and preventive measures.

Nel mese di settembre 2020 veniva presentato nel duomo di Tarquinia il volume avente ad oggetto gli affreschi del Pastura nella cappella Vitelleschi ora nel coro della chiesa, oggetto di un impegnativo restauro allora da poco ultimato. L'intervento era stato l'occasione per ammirare da vicino il ciclo pittorico e comprendere la tecnica e lo stile di questo artista, cosí importante per la storia dell'arte del Lazio e dell'Umbria meridionale, che lavorò a fianco di artisti celeberrimi come Perugino e Pinturicchio. Le pitture erano pervenute ai nostri giorni danneggiate dal calore prodottosi da un incendio a metà Seicento, che ne aveva sciolto le applicazioni di cera dorate. Gli spunti di interesse del cantiere erano stati tali da aver raccolto la preziosa collaborazione dell'infrastruttura IPERION_CH (Integrated Project for the European Research Infrastructure on Culture Heritage) ed il coinvolgimento del CNR, del MOLAB, del Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale dell'Università di Pisa, del Dipartimento di Chimica dell'Università di Bologna. [...] In questo volume vengono resi noti i dati degli studi e delle indagini diagnostiche relativi a quel restauro, Per una serie di positive circostanze l'attività di tutela della Soprintendenza è riuscita in questi ultimi anni a dedicarsi a più opere del Pastura nella provincia di Viterbo. Sono stati compiuti restauri finanziati dalle Diocesi proprietarie dei beni (Civitavecchia, Civita Castellana e Viterbo) ed altri realizzati con il contributo di privati [...] Parallelamente la Soprintendenza di Roma ha avviato il cantiere di restauro della cappella Ponziani in Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, e grazie alla proficua collaborazione tra i funzionari delle due Soprintendenze, attraverso lo scambio di dati ed opinioni, anche di intervento, i risultati di quel restauro sono confluiti in questo volume.'

Bones and teeth are biological archives, but their structure and composition are subjected to alteration overtime due to biological and chemical degradation postmortem, influenced by burial environment and conditions. Nevertheless, organic fraction preservation is mandatory for several archeometric analyses and applications. The mutual protection between biomineral and organic fractions in bones and teeth may lead to a limited diagenetic alteration, promoting a better conservation of the organic fraction. However, the correlation between elemental variations and the presence of organic materials (e.g., collagen) in the same specimen is still unclear. To fill this gap, chemiluminescent (CL) immunochemical imaging analysis has been applied for the first time for collagen localization. Then, Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) and CL imaging were combined to investigate the correlation between elemental (i.e., REE, U, Sr, Ba) and collagen distribution. Teeth and bones from various archeological contexts, chronological periods, and characterized by different collagen content were analyzed. Immunochemical analysis revealed a heterogeneous distribution of collagen, especially in highly degraded samples. Subsequently, LA–ICP–MS showed a correlation between the presence of uranium and rare earth elements and areas with low amount of collagen. The innovative integration between the two methods permitted to clarify the mutual relation between elemental variation and collagen preservation overtime, thus contributing to unravel the effects of diagenetic alteration in bones and teeth. Results - Bone samples. - Tooth sample. Discussion Materials and methods - Sample preparation. - Laser ablation ICP–MS analyses.

In the general global rise of attention and research to seek greener attitudes, the field of cultural heritage (CH) makes no exception. In the last decades, an increasing number of sustainable and biologically based solutions have been proposed for the protection and care of artworks. Additionally, the safety of the target artwork and the operator must be kept as core goals. Within this scenario, new products and treatments should be explored and implemented in the common conservation praxes. Therefore, this review addressing metal heritage is aimed to report biologically derived gel formulations already proposed for this specific area as reliable tools for cleaning. Promising bio-gel-based protocols, still to be implemented in metal conservation, are also presented to promote their investigation by stakeholders in metal conservation. After an opening overview on the common practices for cleaning metallic surfaces in CH, the focus will be moved onto the potentialities of gel-alternatives and in particular of ones with a biological origin. In more detail, we displayed water-gels (i.e., hydrogels) and solvent-gels (i.e., organogels) together with particular attention to bio-solvents. The discussion is closed in light of the state-of-the-art and future perspectives.

Macroscopic mapping and hyperspectral imaging in the mid-infrared region (2500-25000 nm/4000-400 cm-1) are promising technologies in the field of analysis of cultural heritage. So far they have been successfully employed to study paintings and illuminated manuscripts, gathering important information on spatial distribution of artists’ materials. The present paper reports on the application of mid-infrared macroscopic mapping and hyperspectral imaging to the study of artworks. For an exhaustive overview, instrumental details, working principles and image processing methods will be also presented and discussed.

The 28 portraits of the Uomini Illustri (Famous Men) were ordered by Federico da Montefeltro to decorate his studiolo in Urbino c.1473–1476. Initially the Famous Men were painted on seven panels, with four portraits on each. They are now separated into two groups, 14 in the Musée du Louvre, Paris and 14 in the Ducal Palace of Urbino. No testimony on the context of the creation itself was left and art historians have claimed that the paintings were created by a Flemish painter, Justus of Ghent and finished by a Spanish painter, Pedro Berruguete. This hypothesis has now been reconsidered. A reconstruction of the Urbino studiolo decoration was given by Pasquale Rotondi in 1973, based particularly on iconographical considerations and on a partial material study. New analyses were performed at the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF) in 2008, enabling the various modifications that the portraits have undergone over the centuries to be brought to light. The results of the Italo-French collaboration presented in this paper allow hypotheses on the original decoration of the studiolo to be proposed.