XVI CENTURY COLONIAL PANEL PAINTINGS FROM NEW SPAIN : MATERIAL REFERENCE STANDARDS AND NON-DESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS OF MEXICAN RETABLOS

Most of the examples of XVI century panel paintings preserved in Mexico, are located in Retablos (altar pieces) of Dominican and Franciscan convents situated in rural areas. The study of these paintings implies the impossibility to remove the paintings from their original support. In situ analysis is required, non-destructive studies are preferred in order to have a global comprehension of the object, as well as to carry out a limited sampling and to avoid further damage of the paintings. In order to establish a non-destructive methodology for material analysis our project has reproduced XVI century paintings following recipes from treatises and documentation of Italian, Spanish, and Flemish Schools. The reproductions considered: 1) Preparation of pigments, binders, grounds, and supports; 2) Fabrication of oil colours with the prepared pigments and binders; 3) Creation of material reference standards (with fills and one colour, i.e. reds: minium, hematite, kermes lake, etc.); 4) Recreation of paintings (using designs, and colour combinations as expected in an original work of art); 5) Creation of data bases with the analytical results of the analyzed standards (IR reflectography, UV imaging and UV-VIS-IR, X-ray Fluorescence, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopies). 6) Comparative analysis of the reference standards with original panel paintings from museum collections to evaluate the sensitivity and performance of our methodology. In this work, the main results of our first year of research are presented. This research is supported by PAPIIT –UNAM research grant IN-40200 and partially by CONACyT grant U49839-R. INTRODUCTION A few exceptional retablos (altarpieces) have survived in the territory that once pertained to the domains of New Spain. They exemplify the artistic production of late Renaissance period, on the last third of the sixteenth century in New Spain. Some, like the one from the Franciscan church at the convent of Huejotzingo, Puebla, maintain their original form and placement. Unfortunately, most of them are fragmented and the panel paintings that once where part of their composition, are now isolated in temples, museums, or private collections. The study of this kind of objects implies the necessity to establish relationships between paintings in order to propose reconstructive hypothesis that may help to build up the puzzle of the retablo production of the first century of the viceroyalty, and thus be able to contribute on the understanding of their overall meaning. The present study is centred in retablo and panel painting production of two artists: Andrés de Concha and Simón Pereyns. Examples of their work may be seen today in the states of Puebla and Oaxaca, and in Mexico City. The Flemish Simón Pereyns arrived to America in 1566 as part of viceroy Gastón de Peralta retinue. Andrés de Concha arrived to New Spain in 1568 from Sevilla, and was contracted to build the retablo from the church of Yanhuitlán, in Oaxaca. These painters associated to create at least three different retablos. The legal contract for the construction of the mentioned altar of Huejotzingo states the conditions of the construction and elaboration of the paintings, a literal quote from the document says that, 1 9th International Conference on NDT of Art, Jerusalem Israel, 25-30 May 2008 For more papers of this publication click: www.ndt. net/search/docs.php3? MainSource=65