The beautiful "Trionfo d'Amore" attributed to Botticelli: a chemical characterisation by proton-induced X-ray emission and micro-Raman spectroscopy

The drawing "Trionfo d'Amore" (1480-1500) is attributed to Sandro Botticell i, the great master of the Italian Renaissance. It is included in manuscrip t no. 143 (Biblioteca Classense, Ravenna, Italy) containing the poems "Canz oniere" and "Trionfi" of Francesco Petrarca. Two non-destructive techniques, namely proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and micro-Raman spectroscopy, have been employed in this preliminary inves tigation to identify all the colours in the drawing. The results of the pre sent work, showed that ochres, with the addition of a lead based pigment, w ere used to obtain the brown colour, and that iron-gall ink was used to tra ce the drawing. PIXE data also suggests that a lead point was used in the p reparation of the drawing. It was not possible to identify the Lilac pigmen t used, while PIXE and micro-Raman yielded contrasting results in the deter mination of the blue colour of the sky. These results could be explained wi th the hypothesis of a stratification of many colours, in which a lead base d colour was deposited on top of an underlying mixture of blue pigments. (C ) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.