Probing the birthplace of the “Epirus/NW Greece School” of painting: analytical investigation of the Filanthropinon monastery murals. Part II: non-pigment materials and painting technique

Abstract

The sixteenth century Filanthropinon monastery murals mark the emergence of the important post-Byzantine painting school of Epirus. Detailed probing of the materials and techniques of the Filanthropinon works revealed that the workshop involved in the first painting phase (1531/2 AD) is sufficiently distinct from that responsible for the two subsequent phases (1542 and 1560 AD). As regards gilding, high purity gold leaf decorations are mainly seen in the nave paintings; an artifact-free way of determination of leaf thickness via micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (μ-XRF) leads to a value of ca. 0.15 μm and this is noteworthy in view of the intricate manipulations required for the gilding of murals. As regards the execution of paintings, all three Filanthropinon painting phases involve mostly a mixed “fresco-lime paint” technique that makes use of proteinaceous binders, while very few pictorial elements were rendered in true “secco”; this is a remarkable finding as according to the currently dominant view, post-Byzantine wall paintings were executed in a fresco-secco technique. Finally, a comparison of our various findings with pertinent instructions included in the well-known “Hermeneia” of Dionysius of Fourna suggests that the latter manual describes in a realistic manner important features of the painting practice of post-Byzantine artists.