Study of Bronze Statues “John the Baptist” and “Dancing Cupid” from the Collections of the Pushkin State Museum

Abstract

Bronze statues “John the Baptist” and “Dancing Cupid” from the collections of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts have been investigated at the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute.” These statues were previously damaged in fire. Before carrying out restoration, it was necessary to perform their complex study, including identification of statue materials; elemental and phase analysis of contaminations; estimation of the state of surfaces and internal parts; and detection of technological elements, as well as hidden defects, corroded parts, and cracks. To this end, scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis, synchrotron radiation diffraction, and neutron radiography and tomography have been used.