IDENTIFICATION OF THE PAINTING MATERIALS OF A UNIQUE EASEL PAINTING BY MAHMOUD SA'ID

Abstract

The present study aims at examining a unique easel painting by the well-known Egyptian painter, Mahmoud Sa'id. It was painted over four years and displayed at the Agricultural Museum in Egypt. It experienced many deterioration phenomena. The study utilized some non-destructive and non-invasive analytical techniques, i.e. MA-XRF, SEM-EDX, ATR-FTIR, and GC-FID in addition to XRD and SM. Due to the case-study painting multilayers technique, the results of MA-XRF and EDX mapping and XRD patterns revealed using Ultramarine (Na,Ca)8 (AlSiO4)6 (SO4,S,Cl)2, yellow ochre (Fe2O3.H2O), red ochre (Fe2O3), and a mixture of graphite (C) and bone black (C,Ca5(OH)(PO4)3) as a coloring pigments in the blue, yellow, reddish brown and black samples, respectively. Moreover, Barite (BaSO4) and Zincite (ZnO) were used in the ground layer with Hydrocerussite (Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2) and Sphalerite (ZnS) in lightening colors. Linseed oil was asserted as the pigment binding media, while the binding media of the ground layer was not confirmed. Furthermore, fragility, brittleness, cleavages, peeling, cracks, macro cracks, stains, and ancient fault restoration were detected in the case-study painting. Accordingly, it urgently requires treatment.