Panselinos’ Byzantine wall paintings in the Protaton Church, Mount Athos, Greece: a technical examination

Abstract

The sole surviving fresco paintings of Manuel Panselinos (13th century AD), one of the most celebrated Greek iconographers of the Byzantine era, are located in the Protaton Church (10th century AD) on Mount Athos, Greece. This paper presents an examination and technical analysis of 15 representative thematic scenes, covering an area of approximately 65 m 2, from these monumental works of art. The following exhaustive study and documentation of both the original and the subsequently restored areas of the wall paintings were made possible by using various imaging techniques, including visible and ultra-violet photography, infrared reflectography, colour measurements and representation. The chemical identification of the pigments, binders and layer stratigraphy was achieved through the use of visible and ultra-violet fluorescence microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform μspectroscopy (μFTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive analysis (SEM-EDS) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). A collaborative analysis, its results demonstrate that the paintings were executed in both the true fresco and lime-painting techniques. They have also established Panselinos’ choice of materials and colour palette. We believe this study to be an important and necessary prerequisite for the future preservation and restoration of these unique frescoes.