(Press-News.org) Traditional Swedish bonad paintings can contain toxic substances such as arsenic, reveals new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in which painting conservator and conservation scientist Ingalill Nyström analysed the paint and techniques used in the traditional painted wall hangings from southern Sweden.
Previous research into bonad painting has always originated in the humanities, from an art/cultural history perspective.
Bonad paintings are painted wall hangings that tell a story, often with a biblical theme, and were put up in farmhouses on special occasions such as Christmas. However, there has, to date, been little information available about the paint and materials used.
"It's important to know about the materials used in these wall-hangings so that we can preserve them," says Ingalill Nyström from the University of Gothenburg's Department of Conservation. "We need to know whether they run the risk of being bleached or broken down by different kinds of exposure, treatment or conservation method. It's also important for the people who handle them to know whether any of the substances in them could be harmful or toxic."
Several toxic pigments have been found in the wall hangings studied, including orpiment and emerald green, which contain arsenic. Orpiment was very common in yellow pigment in painted wall hangings throughout the 18th century and well into the 19th century too. Emerald green appears in some 19th century wall hangings.
"So it's important to be careful when handling them. Several of the pigments and dyes are also sensitive to light, and the binding agent in the hangings is sensitive to damp and moisture."
Ingalill Nyström's thesis is the first of its kind. Previous research into bonad painting has always originated in the humanities, from an art/cultural history perspective.
Her aim was to investigate the technology, materials and painting techniques used in the wall hangings.
"The quality and characteristics of the materials used can play a role in both these paintings' technical opportunities and their limitations. In my book I describe the various raw materials, approaches, potential painting tools and other aids that could have been used," says Ingalill Nyström.
She also discusses how the paints may have been mixed and applied to the wall hangings.
Ingalill Nyström's work is a cross-disciplinary study that combines art technological source research with spectroscopic analysis methods. She has examined more than 70 bonad paintings originating from southern Sweden between 1700 and 1870, and also 700 paint samples.
The materials used often comprised paint made with cheap pigments mixed up with egg and sometimes a touch of flour. The paint was generally applied to recycled linen, which had been primed with flour glue. Typically, templates were used for the figures in the scenes depicted.
###
Contact:
Ingalill Nyström, Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg,
tel: +46 (0)31 786 5701,
mobile: +46 (0)730 478 609
ingalill.nystrom@conservation.gu.se END
Colorful wall hangings contain toxic substances
2012-11-12
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Good quality of life for couples who adopt
2012-11-12
Couples who adopt after unsuccessful IVF treatment have a better quality of life than both childless couples and couples without fertility problems, reveals a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
A research group comprising midwives and doctors at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, studied quality of life five years after IVF treatment in 979 men and women in the Västra Götaland region.
The study compared couples whose IVF treatment had failed with those whose treatment had resulted in children, those who did not have ...
New statistical method offers automatic mitotic cell detection for cancer diagnosis
2012-11-12
Scientists have developed a statistical image analysis method which can assist in the grading of breast cancer by automatically segmenting tumour regions and detecting dividing cells in tissue samples.
The system, developed at the University of Warwick, promises to bring objectivity and automation to the cancer grading process which is used to determine the aggressiveness of the treatment offered to the patient.
Number of mitotic cells, cells which are dividing to create new cells, is a key indicator used by histopathologists for diagnosing and grading cancer.
At present ...
Scientists at IRB BARCELONA discover a key process that allows colon cancer to metastasize
2012-11-12
A team of 17 researchers, led by scientists Eduard Batlle and Elena Sancho in the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), have determined that the ability of colon cancer to metastasize lies in the healthy cells, called stroma, that surround the tumour. Although the stroma has long been hypothesized to be complicit in this process, this study marks the first time that healthy cells in the microenvironment have been observed to play a fundamental role in allowing metastasis to occur in a specific tumour type.
The discovery, ...
Statement on the handling of risk situations by scientists
2012-11-12
In late October, Italian scientists have been sentenced for supposedly not having warned sufficiently against the severe earthquake of L'Aquila 2009. On occasion of this verdict, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the French Académie des sciences publish a statement concerning the handling of risks situations by scientists. We forward the statement in the exact wording.
Joint Statement of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the French Académie des sciences, 12 November 2012
On the science-based communication of risks following ...
Mongolia and the Altai Mountains: Origins of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians
2012-11-12
A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.
The ...
Elsevier launches new journal: 'Health Care: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation'
2012-11-12
New York, November 12, 2012 – Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is pleased to announce the launch of Health Care: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation.
Health Care provides a vehicle for communicating important advances in the study of cutting edge research on innovation in health care delivery, including improvements in systems, processes, management, payment, and applied information technology. The United States health care system is undergoing unprecedented reform; Health Care builds ...
Call for global monitoring of infectious diseases in dogs and cats
2012-11-12
Most emerging infectious diseases of humans come from animals. International health agencies monitor these diseases, but they do so only for humans and livestock, not for companion dogs and cats. A new study recommends a global system is needed to monitor infectious diseases of companion dogs and cats.
The study, led by Michael Day, Professor of Veterinary Pathology in the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol and published online in Emerging Infectious Diseases, lists key infectious diseases that may be transmitted between dogs and cats and man ...
At least 6 major earthquakes on the Alhama de Murcia fault in the last 300,000 years
2012-11-12
Enjoying Spanish participation, an international group of researchers have analysed the most recent history of the Alhama de Murcia fault. They discovered that it has experienced six major earthquakes above 7 on the Richter scale. According to the scientists, this provides "convincing evidence" that the maximum earthquake magnitudes in the area are higher than originally thought.
Since 2001, researchers from the Universities of Barcelona, Leon, Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Coimbra (Portugal), Aahus (Denmark) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico have been working ...
Scientists unravel the mystery of marine methane oxidation
2012-11-12
This press release is available in German.
Microbiologists and geochemists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, along with their colleagues from Vienna and Mainz, show that marine methane oxidation coupled to sulfate respiration can be performed by a single microorganism, a member of the ancient kingdom of the Archaea, and does not need to be carried out in collaboration with a bacterium, as previously thought. They published their discovery as an article in the renowned scientific journal Nature.
Vast amounts of methane are stored under the ocean ...
Obesity epidemic threatens health of all social groups equally
2012-11-12
It is often assumed that those on low incomes and with low levels of education are overly represented in the major increase in obesity of recent decades.
A new thesis from the Lund University School of Economics and Management, Sweden, shows that obesity is increasing across all social groups and that we need to look at factors other than socioeconomic status to understand and solve one of the major public health concerns of the Western world.
Åsa Ljungvall, a researcher in economics at the Lund University School of Economics and Management, has studied the increase ...