WALL PAINTING OF THE CASTIGLIONI COLLEGE CHAPEL (PV): PREPARATORY INVESTIGATIONS FOR RESTORATION WORK. A MATERIAL STUDY OF THE PICTORIAL DISPLAY.

The wall decorations of the Castiglioni College Chapel are one of the most important examples of painting from the age of Galeazzo Maria Sforza in Pavia. Nowadays this painting suffers because of important deterioration phenomena that will soon be faced by a restoration work. With this intent the Castiglioni-Brugnatelli College Alumnae Association and the CISRiC (Interdepartmental Center for Study and Research for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage) promoted a set of diagnostic investigations. Material surveys have been conducted on minute fragments coming from the vault of the Chapel. Microstratigraphies, textures, composition of technical layers and pigments were studied by means of optical and scanning electron microscopy,-Raman spectroscopy and infra-red spectrophotometry.