This paper focuses on the self-taught artist Fernando Melani (1907-1985), one of the precursors of the Poor Art artistic movement in Italy, and for the first time provides a scientific viewpoint on the artist¡¯s materials and works. The analyses, which mainly focus on the pigments/dyes found in his home-studio, were carried out primarily by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared Fibre Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis-NIR FORS). This paper emphasises the performance of FT-IR and FORS in the identification of contemporary artistic materials, since these two techniques have been found to produce highly complementary data. The use of both of these was required in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the composition of Melani¡¯s materials. Furthermore, one of his artworks, named by Melani himself with its inventory number N. Inv. 2625 (1981), was investigated in situ with the sole use of the FORS technique.
The results showed that Melani used traditional inorganic pigments as well as modern organic dyes. Calcite and barite were used as fillers and extenders. Sulphur and abrasive powder were also found, thus confirming his use of a large variety of non-conventional artists¡¯ materials.