A gravura na obra de Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro: estudos histórico-artístico, técnico e material e contributos para a sua preservação

Abstract

The present doctoral thesis deepens the scientific and material study of a set of engravings produced by the artist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro. To achieve this objective, an interdisciplinary research is presented, carried out according to several methodologies based on the historical-artistic and technological study of 25 original documents, complemented by a laboratory analytical approach, resulting from the partnership with the Laboratory for the Conservation and Restoration of Graphic Documents of the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, the HERCULES Laboratory of the University of Évora and the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum in Lisbon. For the general framework of the chosen theme, an approach is carried out around the historical and artistic research of the author's life and work context and the technological study of the production techniques present in the case studies, also referring to the main pathologies diagnosed during a general assessment of the current state of conservation of the documents. The use of digital microscopy allowed us to obtain relevant data for the achievement of our goals related to these matters in detail. The material study of this segment of graphic production was developed through the application of methods of examination and analysis in situ and in the laboratory, established for the purpose of this research which are in line with the same work practices usually developed in conservation and restoration of graphic documents. The collection of information related to the materials involved in the production of paper supports, namely regarding the degree of purity of their pastes and coatings, together with the identification of their main constituents and the information regarding the materials present in the inks used, actively contributed to the correct understanding of the printed artistic work of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, adding important contents within the scope of the artistic contexts of his time, as well as relevant details for the graphic art produced in Portugal in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially on the particularity of its techniques.