Pigments with or without organic binder? A survey of wall painting techniques during Antiquity
- Laboratoire de Recherche des Musees de France, 6, rue des Pyramides, F-75041 Paris Cedex 01 (France)
The identification of ancient artistic techniques is based on laboratory studies and, for historical cases, also on literary sources. An analytical approach using the techniques of physical chemistry reveals the technical expertise of the artists, right at the dawn of art. In the case of prehistoric parietal art, we show that the artists prepared their pigments with different ground and mixed minerals. They applied their material onto the wall and the particles remained embedded in the superficial calcite layer. Later, the prehistoric people prepared a real paint with the proper pigment, an extender and an organic binder to fix the paint on the wall. During Antiquity, new techniques appear. The paint is applied to the natural or artificial wall and is executed, either directly or on a previously applied plaster. The aim of this paper is to describe the evolution of the techniques. The underlying chemistry provides some interesting clues on the technical choices. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 286479
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950119--
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 354; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPCS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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