CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Pigment samples obtained from a South American Jesuit wooden sculpture housed at the Museum of Natural Sciencesin La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis and infrared spectroscopy. The red pigments were identified as vermilion and minium, while the mineral pigment green earth was identified for the first time in a Colonial art work, together with calcite as the plaster. Two fungal species, Nigrospora sphaerica (Sac.) Mason and Chaethomium globosum Kunze, were isolated from a sample of wood, which was identified as Cedrela fissilis. Chaetomium is a known soft rot fungus with the capacity to decay wood but little is known about the effects of Nigrospora on wood. The presence of the two fungi in decayed areas of the wood suggests that a synergistic attack may be occurring.