Analysis of green pigments: The case of Almada Negreiros maritime station murals in Lisbon (Portugal)

Abstract

In 1949, Almada Negreiros painted at the maritime station of Rocha do Conde de Óbidos, in Lisbon, six monumental mural paintings, which are considered as his highest artistic achievement. On these paintings, he resorted to a bright colourful palette, which needs to be studied to support conservation and preservation of these artworks for future generations. Among the pigments under study within project ALMADA, the identification of the green samples is the most challenging, as Almada Negreiros seems to have explored different hues by using simultaneously inorganic (e.g., emerald green, Scheele's green and viridian) as well as organo-synthetic pigments that were rather unusual when employing a traditional mural painting technique (e.g., PG7 and PG8). Moreover, he seems to have admixed white (e.g., titanium white) or blue pigments (e.g., ultramarine) to modify the hues. The different colourants found, as well as the use of mixtures of pigments, hints that Almada Negreiros was keen on experimenting and applying relatively novel painting materials. Raman spectroscopy, given its ability to identify inorganic as well as organic components, is a key analytical tool to discriminate between all these compounds. The findings were also supported by complimentary analytical techniques, including colourimetry, handheld X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (h-XRF) and micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μ-FT-IR). Identification of the green pigments by Raman spectroscopy is, however, not always straightforward, and it is demonstrated how changes in relative band intensities and band broadening can point to mixtures, where the Raman spectral features of some compounds can easily be overseen in the spectrum.