The project aims to develop a 3D physical model of paintings with existing craquelure patterns and through this decisively contribute to the development of evidence-based environmental specifications for paintings.
Strategic objectives include:
building a database of material properties, especially fracture toughness, for historical materials used in pictorial layers and for modern materials used to consolidate paintings,
developing a comprehensive 3D structural model of fractured pictorial layers, especially to understand the mechanisms and processes involved in craquelure pattern formation and growth,
integrating the 3D structural model of pictorial layers with hygrothermal-mechanical-coupled model of paintings on wooden and canvas substrates,
determining the vulnerability of historical pictorial layers with developed craquelure patterns to environmental variations, including paintings after conservation treatments,
extending a software tool (HERIe) that facilitates the quantitative risk assessment of climate-induced damage to incorporate the research outcomes for paintings.