Modern Mural Paintings. The Planisphere Painting of Almada Negreiros: Technical and Material Features of Plasters and Painting Technique

Abstract

This paper presents the results of observations and analysis carried out in the modern mural painting of 54m2, known as Planisphere (or Mapa-mundi), made by Almada Negreiros in 1939 in the city of Lisbon. The painting is Almada’s first monumental painted work at fresco, and it is a striking, colourful composition inspired by early world maps of navigators. The aim is to ascertain how he built up this masterpiece and what artistic sources could have inspired him. The analytical setup comprised in-situ technical photography in the visible (Vis and Vis-Rak) and near infrared radiation (NIR), Vis-handled-Optical microscopy, complemented by laboratorial analysis of microsamples collected from paint layers with OM-Vis-UV and SEM-EDS. The data obtained was compared with the painting compendiums of Paul Bedouin’s La fresque. Sa Technique-ses applications (1914) and of Costin Petresco’s L’art de la fresque (1931), retrieved from the artist studio in 2019. The study reveals the first technical and material features found, such as the painting execution by large giornate, the use of different types of techniques to transfer the drawings to the wall, and the presence of paint layers made with buon and lime fresco. The results also reveal the likely strategies used by Almada to overcome the challenges imposed by a fresco execution, inspired by both eastern and western mural painting traditions.