In January 2013, the JPI Cultural Heritage launched its first Joint Pilot Call for Research Proposals in Cultural Heritage. Ten successful projects were selected for funding, and nine of these are now officially up and running. Over the coming weeks we will be profiling each of the successful projects - on subjects ranging from heritage values to waterlogged wood, and from cultural heritage landscapes to the deterioration of lead and zinc white pigments in painting.

The ninth project that we've chosen is looking at Induced Decay and Ageing Mechanisms in Paintings: Focus on Interactions between Lead and Zinc White and Organic Material (LeadART).

The study of paintings consists of identifying pigments and binders to highlight the techniques used by the artists but also to propose the most appropriate conservation conditions and restoration treatments. Nowadays, the identification of main organic and inorganic components is achieved by different complementary techniques, but little is known about the interactions between these compounds and with external painting treatments. Of particular interest is the interaction between pigments and organic binders and the information that induced decay and ageing mechanisms can provide about these interactions. We propose to focus analytical methodologies on physico-chemical interactions between zinc and lead white pigments and proteins, glycoproteins and lipids. To achieve these objectives, elementary and structural analyses will be employed by the European consortium (France, Italy, Netherlands, Cyprus, Luxemburg) composed of internationally recognized specialists in the study of cultural heritage (chemists, physicists, conservators, restorators). Novel analytical methodologies providing more accurate information on organic compound chemical modifications will be proposed and adapted for the first time to Cultural Heritage but also, new tools for restoration - such as nanogels - will be studied at molecular level. Based on this novel network, the collaborative research will be applied to the extraordinary paintings of the Antonietta Gallone Archive (The Last Supper, Leonardo de Vinci), mural paintings from famous European buildings (Constitutional Council of Paris Palais Royal, Prosper Chabrol), and to the canvas collection of the Louvre museum (Van Gogh paintings). From an economic point of view, the project will help to launch a new research center dedicated to science and technology in art and archaeology, in Cyprus.

LeadART has a total budget of €1,368,000 and will run over a three year period, from January 2014 to January 2017.

LeadART's website is still under construction, but you can learn more about the project by consulting the PDF factsheet attached below.