engleski

Air Pollution Effects on the Paintings Kept within Modern Gallery Depots in Rijeka

The most important parameters determining the microclimate within museums and exhibition areas are temperature, relative humidity and indoor air pollution (often related to outdoors). To assess the possible impact of air pollution on artworks kept in the Museum’ s depots, soiling material (dirt) removed during process of restoration was analyzed for its ionic content, lead, soot and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The samples of dirt were taken from 4 paintings: two of them kept in the central depot within the Museum building since mid-seventies or eighties (with unknown prior history of storage), while the other two were kept in the temporary depot in the wider city centre since the mid-nineties. The common characteristics for all the paintings analysed is the dominance of sulphate and calcium in the water extract of the soiling material analysed. This is in agreement with the fact these two ions are dominant in aerosol composition found indoors, their source being either plaster soiling and/or chemical reactions of SO2 with calcite. The latter reaction is correlated to indoor/outdoora air pollution. The excess of sulphate relative to calcium found in two paintings kept since mid-seventies/eighties in the central depot, when the outdoor air pollution was maximal, suggest the air pollution impact. No excess of sulphate was found in two paintings kept in the temporary depot siince the nineties, when the outdoor air pollution was substantionally reduced. In this case calcium excess was found, presumably due to calcite building/soil material.

museum; soiling; outdoor/indoor air pollution; sulphate; calcium

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