Multianalytical Study on Two Wooden Icons from the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century Evaluation of conservation state

The old wooden icons entitled Daniel and Jeremiah prophets and Aaron and Gideon prophets, painted by an unknown artist, were realized in tempera. The chromatic of the countenance and hands is realized with brown, over it a pink-reddish color is superposed and light zones are applied in white. The composition of the painting materials obtained by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is based on the following major materials: calcium carbonate, lead oxide, iron ochre and cinnabar. The fir wood samples offer information about the crystallinity and lignin to cellulose ratio changes; the lime wood samples give also details about their time degradation. The shift of the characteristic cellulose and lignin DSC peaks and the occurrence of a third peak at 468 degrees C indicate the wood-boring beetle and fungal attack on analyzed wood sample.