Rapid fabrication of frescoes using a geomimetic ceramic formation process

Frescoes were developed as religious paintings in medieval Europe before the rise of oil paintings. When coloring with natural pigments on a slaked lime plaster, calcium carbonate gradually forms a coating on the pigments at the surface of the plaster over a period of decades to a hundred years. Many frescoes have been maintained for hundreds of years and have become part of historic heritage. However, the making of frescoes is rarely selected as a general art painting method because it takes a lot of time for complete carbonation to occur. This study demonstrated that a geomimetic ceramic hardening technique using calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate, followed by subsequent acceleration of carbonation at the surface of the calcium hydroxide with supercritical carbon dioxide, could assist in forming frescoes in a short time. The immobilization of the pigment used on the base calcium hydroxide body was evaluated by a scratch test with emery paper, and pigment color differences were measured by a colorimeter. Furthermore, the micromorphology of the resultant frescoes fabricated by the geomimetic technique in a short time was investigated to evaluate the progress of carbonation. As a result, frescoes could be fabricated in a short time by combining a geomimetic technique and carbonation with supercritical carbon dioxide using a novel pigment that is a mixture of pigment and calcium hydroxide. The pigment in the final sample was completely fixed to the base calcium hydroxide body, and the pigment color was brighter than the original pigment color due to the densification of calcium carbonate after supercritical carbon dioxide treatment.