Marble and patina analysis for interpreting sculptures from antiquarian collections. A set from the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (Barcelone) and the Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid)

Abstract

The article presents the results obtained through the investigation of 39 marble sculptures in classical style from antiquarian collections, whose ancient or modern chronology could not be easily determined. This group of sculptures corresponds to a representative selection of 150 sculptural works of this type studied in successive state research projects carried out between 2011 and 2022, and represents a significant group to demonstrate the important contribution of multimethod analyses of stone materials and those applied to the patinas deposited on the marble surfaces of these doubtful antiquarian sculptures to elucidate their age. The analyses by optical microscopy, cathodoluminescence (CL) and stable isotopes of carbon (C) and oxygen (O) of these works have ratified those of other sets of Roman marble sculptures carried out previously, which indicated a preference for the use of marble from Greece and Asia Minor in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, while the use of Luni-Carrara marble is common for the production of modern classical-style sculptures. Regarding the analysis of the patinas, our research team is finding them to be of great interest for obtaining data on the environments in which these sculptures have been preserved throughout their history.