Evaluation of the museum environmental risk by means of tempera-painted dosimeters

The monitoring and control of environmental parameters provide useful infor mation in order to reduce the decay of works of art. Dosimeters that reprod uce the pictorial structure of paintings as closely as possible were prepar ed and tested to evaluate the effects induced on works of art by the "globa l" indoor environment. These dosimeters were aged under different condition s in ageing chambers, and successively were placed in the Uffizi Gallery fo r several months. The data obtained from the naturally aged dosimeters were compared with those found for the artificially aged, thus providing inform ation on the alteration process induced by the environmental factors. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.