The palette of Pio Collivadino (1869–1945) throughout his career

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of the pigmentary palette of Pío Collivadino (1869–1945), an Argentinian artist of outstanding influence in the national art of the early twentieth century. By using Raman spectroscopy on micro-samples taken from a selected corpus of the Pío Collivadino Museum consisting of representative works of different moments of his production, we were able to unambiguously detect several pigments in the artist's palette: lead white, vermillion, Prussian blue, chrome yellows and oranges, synthetic ultramarine, zinc white, cadmium yellows and oranges, cobalt violet, viridian, cerulean blue, cadmium red and earth pigments (raw sienna and burnt sienna). The identification of the pigments used by Collivadino enabled us to set up a dialogue between his palette and those of the contemporary European artistic movements his work relates to: the Macchiaioli, the Scapigliati, the Divisionists (Italian artistic vanguards) and the Impressionists. The presence of Prussian blue, cerulean blue, viridian not mixed with emerald green and earth pigments relates Collivadino's choice of pigments to that of the contemporary Italian artistic vanguards, distancing his palette from that of the Impressionists. The palettes of European artists active during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century have been widely studied making it possible to date the incorporation of the new bright and colorful pigments that were synthesized during this period. Taking into account Collivadino's privileged position in the Art academic field, his choice of art materials may have influenced many artists whose works make up the Argentine national heritage. Therefore, the characterization of Collivadino's pigmentary palette carried out here is an important step to date the incorporation of these bright new pigments in the Argentinian artists’ palettes. Besides Collivadino's work importance by itself, and due to his position of privilege, his palette also provides information about the availability of art supplies in Argentina during this period.