Fungal and Bacterial Biodeterioration of Outdoor Canvas Paintings: The Case of the Cloisters of Quito, Ecuador

The journal Critical Review In Eukaryotic Gene Expression has just published an interesting article entitled: “Fungal And Bacterial Biodeterioration Of Outdoor Canvas Paintings: The Case Of The Cloisters Of Quito, Ecuador.” The document is available for all the scientific and academic community here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34369714/. The study analyzes the preventive conservation of an ensemble of canvas paintings from the 12th and 13th century, housed in the cloisters of three monasteries in the historical center of Quito, Ecuador.  Challenges to the conservation of these artworks include diverse deterioration agents present in the environmental conditions, and potentially microorganisms living where they are exhibited.

Dr. Fernando Poyatos-Jiménez, main investigator and specialist in biodeterioration on canvas paintings, and Dr. Fátima Morales, a collaborating researcher, are both Affiliate Assistant Professors at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Department of Biology, Temple University. The authors have also previously published on the biodeterioration of objects of cultural heritage, under the leadership of Sbarro Institute Director, Dr. Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D.

One of the main achievements of this work is the multidisciplinary vision of the study, making a unique international scientific experience that combines diverse knowledge fields from Science and Art. This work has been achieved thanks to the funding by the SENESCYT Prometeo Project and the Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Ecuador, The Equinoctial Technological University of Quito, Ecuador, and the University of Granada and Sevilla in Spain. 

In conclusion, this article provides new and interesting analytic protocols that could be applied for the preventive conservation of important artworks exhibited in worship places and historical buildings to avoid the alterations provoked by different biodeterioration agents.  

 

 

About the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO)

The Sbarro Health Research Organization is a non-profit charity committed to funding excellence in basic genetic research to cure and diagnose cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and related chronic illnesses and to foster the training of young doctors in a spirit of professionalism and humanism (www.shro.org)