New Ecological Solutions Involved in the Cleaning of a 19th Century Icon

Cleaning of old icons requires special attention to selecting the processes and systems compatible with the chemical nature and adhesions of the deposits, to not affect the polychrome layer or their conservation status. The study was carried out on a 19th century icon made in fat tempera, on a thin layer of preparation that presents fouling. The cleaning was done using extracts obtained from sage, St. John’s Wort, and, respectively, licorice root teas obtained through different extraction processes: microwave, ultrasound, boiling, and room temperature, respectively. The washing capacity of the new system used was analyzed by analytical methods of assessing the cleaning degree: UV-Vis reflection, reflective colorimetry type CIE L*a*b*, co-assisted with optical microscopy and scanning electrone microscopy (SEM-EDX).