An Epidemiological Approach to the Study and Classification of Cracks in Oil Paintings on Canvas: A Proposal to Validate Parameters Influencing their Formation and Propagation

Paintings are complex layered systems comprising diverse material properties. This diversity gives rise to multiple
internal stresses that can lead to mechanical disturbances such as cracks and craquelure. These stresses are the result of interactions that take place between the materials (due to physical and chemical processes that occur during drying and ageing), environmental fluctuations or due to both, which ultimately lead to cracking of layers.
The research aimed to establish a classification of typical crack patterns in oil paintings on canvas by describing certain morphological aspects (attributes) of crack networks in large collections of oil paintings. These were correlated with significant data about the painting to determine tendencies of the possible parameters responsible for their formation.