Behind the Shield: Documenting Interventions in a Bolognese Missal with Scanning Macro-X-Ray Fluorescence (MA-XRF) Spectroscopy

Abstract

The heraldic devices found in an important missal from Renaissance Bologna, now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, are known to have been repainted during the early life of the manuscript. To clarify these stages and enable a reassessment of the missal’s history and historiography, a technical analysis of the painted escutcheons was undertaken using Scanning Macro-X-Ray Fluorescence (MA-XRF) spectroscopy. This analytical method provides distribution maps of individual chemical elements, aiding the visualization of paint surfaces that suffered loss, abrasion, or intentional defacement, or underwent interventions such as repainting or retouching. In this article, changes to the shields are more precisely documented than ever before, allowing the authors to reconsider the early provenance of a manuscript witness to the papal crisis within the Catholic Church during the final decades of the Great Western Schism.