THE ‘CRUCIFIED AND DEPOSED CHRIST’ OF MUSEO DIOCESANO OF PALERMO, ITALY. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF A SICILIAN PAPIER-MȂSCHÉ POLYCHROME SCULPTURE

In this paper we describe scientific investigations on the artwork ‘Crucified and deposed Christ’ from the Diocesan Museum of Palermo. Multidisciplinary studies were carried out to obtain interesting information about constitutive materials and executive techniques of XVIII century Sicilian papier mâsché, as well as about the sculpture state of conservation and the recognition of the previous treatments.Examination of the polychrome sculpture was both non-invasive (IRR, IRC, UV fluorescence, EDXRF spectroscopy X-Radiography) and micro invasive (optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy SEM-EDX).SEM-EDX results showed the use of materials like…