(AGI) Rome, Feb 13 - Jackson Pollock's 1947 piece Alchemy,painted with his revolutionary technique of dripping paint withthe canvas lying flat on the ground, required delicatepreservative action to leave its layering of colours anddiverse materials unaffected. Italy's National Research Council(CNR) conducted a series of scientific investigations that werecrucial for the piece's restoration, the results of which willbe shown in the exhibit "Alchimia di Jackson Pollock. Viaggioall'interno della materia" at the Guggenheim Collection ofVenice till April 6. The Molab-CNR, a mobile laboratory fornon-invasive investigations into works of art which comprisesthe Institute of Molecular Science and Technology (ISTM-CNR),National Optics Institute (INO-CNR), and the SMAArt Centre ofPerugia, with the participation of major Italian and Europeanmuseums, provided optical methods that made it possible toobtain information on Pollock's technique and the distributionof materials on the canvas. "The Molab-CNR in 2013 conducted afact-finding campaign into Pollock's pieces in the GuggenheimCollection through spectro-analytical methods, and then probeddeeper into Alchemy through a morphological scan of the canvasfrom behind with laser microprofiling", coordinator CostanzaMiliani stated. "We detected fifteen different kinds ofpigments, including ultramarine, phthalo blue and green,cadmium solphoselenides, viridian, zinc and titanium white, andan alchidic resin produced for industrial painting, used forthe first time by Pollock for its higher speed ofpolymerisation compared to traditional oil-based fixers. Withregard to the degree of preservation, the paint presenteddeposits and dust of composites induced by the chemicaldegradation of some its original components, while the canvasshowed deformations caused by the weight of the paintingmaterial", she explained. A 3D model of Alchemy was created bythe Visual Computing Lab of the Institute of InformationScience and Technology (ISTI-CNR) in Pisa. . .