The technique of José Wasth Rodrigues at the entrance of the Paulista Museum: coats of arms of the oldest bandeirante cities

Abstract

At the entrance of the Museu Paulista are nine coats of arms of the first cities in São Paulo with a bandeirante tradition (São Paulo, Santos, São Vicente, Itanhém, Porto Feliz, Sorocaba, Itu, Taubaté, and Parnaíba), inaugurated in 1926. Of these, only the last five were designed by Affonso D’Escragnolle Taunay, then director of the Museu Paulista, however, all were painted by José Wasth Rodrigues. These are oil paintings on semicircular canvases, about which there is scarce information regarding materials and techniques employed. These aspects are relevant both for documenting the painter's work and for the conservation of these paintings, and these are the reasons why they were investigated in this study. The results revealed that the coats of arms were executed on gilding that completely covers the surface of the canvases, using high-quality gold leaf and a water-based gilding technique. Only in the coats of arms of Sorocaba and Porto Feliz was a less noble alloy detected, perhaps used in later interventions. The silver areas were executed with silver-based paints, except for the Coat of Arms of Taubaté, in which aluminum was used. The color palette, limited by the rules of heraldry, is predominantly based on traditional inorganic pigments; however, the detection of the synthetic pigment PR 3 in some paints indicates that Wasth Rodrigues used commercial products. The information reported here expands the knowledge about the artistic production of José Wasth Rodrigues and will certainly be useful in defining preventive conservation strategies, supporting decisions to be made in future restoration interventions.