FROM PIGMENTS TO PAINTS: STUDYING ORIGINAL MATERIALS FROM THE ATELIER OF THE ARTIST MARIANO FORTUNY Y MADRAZO

We present the first study related to the painting materials used by Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (Granada 1871 - Venice 1949). This eclectic artist, whose activities ranged from photography to painting, produced his own tempera colours Tempere Fortuny. His atelier in Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei in Venice still conserves several kinds of painting materials employed in different stages of paint manufacture: from raw colourant materials (e.g. pigments and dyes) to a ready-to-use paint tube containing a complex mixture of pigment, binder ad additives. Micro samples collected from 29 “raw” materials and 2 handcrafted coloured paint mixtures were characterised by XRF, FT-IR and PyGCMS analysis. Through this multi-analytical approach, both inorganic and organic fractions were detected. According to the obtained results, Mariano Fortuny used both traditional and innovative materials- commercial products which were available at his time and sold for artistic practice and paint manufacture. This study allowed to understand the procedures followed by Fortuny in the production of his own colours, in particular highlighting the technical expedients the artist used in binding medium processing. These pieces of information prove Fortuny’s deep proficiency in paint manufacture and explain why his own Tempere were appreciated by his contemporaries.