Infrared reveals lost Renaissance artistry

Caroline Morley, online picture researcher

(Image: Optics Express)

The Renaissance period in Italy was a time of advances in science and the arts. Now the former is coming to the rescue of the latter.

Images of paintings taken in near-infrared wavelengths are an established tool for conservators and restorers: it allows them to see details invisible to the naked eye. Now Claudia Daffara of the University of Verona, Italy, and her colleagues have developed thermal quasi-reflectography (TQR), which utilises reflected light from the mid-infrared part of the spectrum (3 to 5 micrometres in wavelength).

This image shows part of a fresco painted by the Zavattari family in the Theodelinda Chapel of Monza Cathedral, near Milan. It were created between 1440 and 1446 with different fresco techniques, gold and silver decorations and reliefs. The detail is pictured here using colour photography (a), traditional near-infrared imaging (b) and the new TQR technique (c).

Daffara said: "Our system easily identified old restorations in which missed gold decorations were simply repainted."

Journal reference: Optics Express, vol 20, p 14746

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