Hygromechanical response of a panel painting in a church, monitoring and computer modeling

Julien Colmars (1) , Bertrand Marcon (1) , Emmanuel Maurin (2) , Romain Remond (3) , Fabrice Morestin (4) , Paola Mazzanti (5) , Joseph Gril (1)

1 MAB - Mécanique de l'Arbre et du Bois
2 LRMH - Laboratoire de recherche des monuments historiques
3 LERFoB - Laboratoire d'Etudes des Ressources Forêt-Bois
4 LaMCoS - Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures [Villeurbanne]
5 DEISTAF - Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Forestali

Wooden panel paintings are commonly displayed in traditional churches, where they play to some degree a religious function in addition to their cultural value. They are subject to uncontrolled microclimatic variations that include weekly heating periods. The actual amount of these variations, as well as the consequence on the panel deformations, are insufficiently known. Such information is particularly required when a painted panel needs to be transported, either to be displayed in a different place like a museum or to a workshop for restoration, in order to assess the risk resulting from the change of ambient conditions and make the appropriate decision for their preventive conservation. The panel called "Le Couronnement d'Epines", about 500 years old, is made of 3 horizontal boards assembled through a pair of vertical crossbars. It is on display in the choir of Saint Didier church, Avignon, south of France, and presents a satisfactory conservation state. Our study focused on the upper board.

Domaines: Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

Julien Colmars, Bertrand Marcon, Emmanuel Maurin, Romain Remond, Fabrice Morestin, et al.. Hygromechanical response of a panel painting in a church, monitoring and computer modeling. International conference on wooden cultural heritage, Evaluation of deterioration and management of change, Oct 2009, Hamburg, Germany. 9p. ⟨hal-00795990⟩