Ancient restorations; Imaging technique; MA-XRF; Pigments; Polychromy; Roman sculpture; Archeology (arts and humanities); Anthropology; Archeology
Abstract :
[en] If ancient written sources and the visual analysis of polychromies have recently revealed the complexity of the technique of painting on statues and their frequent restoration, the non-invasive punctual chemical analyses carried out do not allow one to access the chemical composition of the different paint layers. This paper presents the analysis of three statues from Roman Africa discussing the results obtained from this understudied territory and chronology. By combining visual observation (VIS, UVL), video microscopy and MA-XRF imaging, we propose here a non-invasive protocol to determine the chemical composition of the different paint layers. This allows one to unveil the complexity of the ‘know-how’ of a sculpture painter and sheds light on the evolution of the original appearance of the statues.
Disciplines :
Archaeology Chemistry Physics
Author, co-author :
Neri, Elisabetta ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Art, Archéologie et Patrimoine (AAP)
Alfeld, Matthias; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands ; Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, LAMS, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Nasr, Nesrine; Institut National du Patrimoine (INP), Tunis, Tunisia
de Viguerie, Laurence; Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, LAMS, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Walter, Philippe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Centres généraux > Centre européen en archéométrie ; Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, LAMS, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Language :
English
Title :
Unveiling the paint stratigraphy and technique of Roman African polychrome statues
Publication date :
June 2022
Journal title :
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
ISSN :
1866-9557
eISSN :
1866-9565
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
H2020 - 896000 - PolyCRomA - Polychromy: the meaning of Colour in Roman African statues
Funders :
EU - European Union
Funding text :
This work has received funding from the programme Convergence Paris-Sorbonne (project: Coblarcheo headed by F. Baratte) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement “PolyCRomA: No. 258 89600 to EN).Faouzi Mahfoudh, director of the INP in Tunis, Fatma Nait Yghil, director of the Bardo Museum, and Fathi Béjaoui and Francois Baratte, directors of the project “Corpus des sculptures du Musée du Bardo” are warmly acknowledged for their help in the field work.
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