Analytical Study to Monitor the Effectiveness of a Combined Liquid-Dispensing and Micro-aspiration System for the Cleaning of Modern Oil Paintings

An integrated system for controlled-delivery and micro-aspiration of aqueous solutions for the cleaning of sensitive painted surface has been developed and tested on various occurrences. The system relies on a simple syringe-driver device, providing a constant and controllable flow of aqueous solution direct-ly onto the cleaning brush and a surgical micro-aspirator outfitted with a vari-ety of accessories for removing by suction the cleaning solution from the sur-face. By drastically decreasing the contact time of the aqueous solution, dif-fusion under the surface is greatly reduced, leading to less interactions with the paint, minimizing swelling and disruption of a sensitive surface and leach-ing of binding medium components. Aim of this work was to verify analytical-ly these aspects on an unvarnished oil painting from the late 1970’s. Cotton swabs from the aqueous cleaning, done with both traditional swab rolling and controlled delivery/micro-aspiration, were analyzed by XRF. Furthermore, uncleaned and cleaned paint areas were sampled and analyzed by GC-MS, monitoring their fatty acid profile.