A macro-to-microscale scientific investigation of the Visitation panel: insights into its materiality and the metal oxalate alteration phenomenon

The conservation-restoration of the Visitation panel at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium took place in parallel with the MetOx research project. The latter provided scientific support for the material study of the painting as well as its alteration, focusing more particularly on the as-found metal oxalates species. The current chapter will briefly illustrate the scientific results obtained during the macro-to-microscale multi-analytical investigation of the Visitation panel. It will firstly present the results relating to the characterisation of the painting materials and technique. It will then offer an overview of the metal oxalate alteration phenomenon observed in the panel’s pictorial layers.