Use of Spanish broom (Spartium junceum L.) canvas as a painting support: Evaluation of the effects of environmental conditions

One of the problems in the field of cultural heritage is the degradation of artworks and especially paintings. They appear very sensitive to environmental conditions. In this work, Spanish broom canvas is proposed as a novel painting support. In order to assess the deterioration properties of this new type of canvas, three degradation processes (exposure to wet atmosphere, to acidic attack and to UV light) were simulated and investigated. The deterioration state of the samples was monitored with Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The structure of the canvas was also analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). These techniques were successfully applied to study the occurrence significant changes of samples. The exposure to acidic and UV attack produced deep changes on the samples (only on the canvas surface in the case of UV light), while no significant effect was identified on the sample after the exposure to wet atmosphere. The results obtained from Spanish broom canvas are reported in comparison to flax canvas.