Raman characterization of pigments from the 14th century fresco “Madonna in trono con bambino” at the Juliet’s House in Verona (Italy) and comparison with current products.

The fresco being examined was created by Maestro Cicogna, a painter from Verona, in the 14th century, precisely in 1326, although the attribution is not yet entirely certain [1]. It was created for the Palazzo del Podestà in Verona. Only in 1895 it was detached and transferred to the Civic Museum of Verona, to then be placed inside the Juliet's House Museum. The work created in fresco and graffiti (only with regard to the inscriptions), represents the Madonna enthroned with the baby Jesus, the scene is placed on a blue and green background and surrounded by a red and white two-tone band. The throne is in marble, without a cushion, with a back and decorated with a band of red lozenges on the upper edge; the Madonna, who holds the child in her arms, wears a mantle lined with ermine fur, a red dress decorated with white rosettes and a fragment of a red and yellow halo can be glimpsed. There is a large gap in the upper part, so only the lower parts of the bodies of the figures are visible. Finally, there are inscriptions in Gothic characters and Arabic numerals, almost totally lost. The purpose of this work is the recognition of the pigments used to paint the fresco under study and the comparison with a set of pigments now produced by the historic company Dolci Color Srl of Verona, specialized in the production of natural pigments, mostly natural earths, to be used in the restoration of ancient works. A further step will be to compare these results with the analysis of samples from the ancient pigment quarries, now mostly abandoned, present in the territory of north-eastern Italy.