Ancient Fresco Research Articles

Soft-sensing reconstruction of in-depth defect geometry from active IR-thermography data

This paper proposes a new approach for processing measured data from active Infra Red (IR) thermography, where a soft sensing algorithm is exploited for in depth defect reconstruction. This is achieved by propagating the information gathered at the wall surface to the inner layers. Correlating the experimental 2D measurements to a Finite Element (FE) model of the tested specimen it is possible to update the model with the measured data and change the geometry of the simulated inner defect, until the surface temperature distribution calculated corresponds to the measured one. Following that strategy, the unknown defect geometry can be determined. The method developed and presented in this paper consists of an optimization problem based on the minimization of the difference between the surface temperature distribution measured on the sample subjected to an active thermography test and the one resulting from the FE model. The optimization variables are the geometrical parameters (depth, width, thickness and position) characterizing the defect which will be fully determined at the complete convergence, within a given tolerance, of the optimization problem. The method includes also a preprocessing algorithm, based on the same experimental data and FE model, which allows to determine thermal and mechanical properties of the object under test, like surface emissivity, heat capacity and material conductivity and density, which are often unknown especially in the case of works of art. This soft-sensing procedure has been applied to a virtual experiment to estimate the accuracy of the reconstructed geometry and to a simulacrum of ancient fresco including defects realized on purpose.

Contemporary Perception of the Protoevangelium Ancient Frescoes of the Mirozhsky Monastery

The article reveals artistic features of the unique ancient frescoes of the Protoevangelium cycle of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Mirozhsky Monastery in Pskov, dedicated to the life of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as her childhood and youth. The article considers a brief history of the first artistic ima­ges of the Virgin, her life and the Protoevangelium cycles in the history of world art and the monumental painting in the period from 2nd to the 12th century. In previous scientific publications, the attention was paid to the history of the monastery, the disclosure of ancient fresco technique and technology, the conditions of frescoes preservation, as well as the main characters and the content of the scenes. The novelty of this study lies in the analysis of artistic features of the Protoevangelium compositions of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Mirozhsky Monastery and in the disclosure of a narrower to­pic insufficiently covered in the specific literature and requiring further in-depth research: the perception of the ancient frescoes’ background details by vie­wers of the 21st century. The article analyzes the artistic features of additional, secondary background details of the frescoes, whose thoroughness is unique for the medieval period of Christianity formation in Russia. The author focuses on our contemporaries’ perception of the features of the composition and color of the Mirozhsky Monastery’s Protoevangelium frescoes’ background in comparison with similar scenes of medieval murals in temples of Kiev, Veliky Novgorod, Polotsk and other cities. The artistic compositions of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral were developed on the initiative of Archbishop Nifont, one of the most educated people of his time, and made by Byzantine masters invited to Pskov to paint the walls in the first half of the 12th century. The frescoes of the Protoevangelium cycle are located in a separate South-Western compartment under the choirs. This article organically complements the scientific publications devoted to the analysis of gospel scenes, acts of the apostles, the life cycle of the Pope Clement, prophets and martyrs depicted in the paintings of the Mirozhsky Monastery.

A.R. MENGS TRA ROMA E MADRID: LE INQUIETUDINI DEL PITTORE FILOSOFO SULL’ISTITUZIONE ACCADEMICA NELLA SECONDA METÀ DEL XVIII SECOLO

It is difficult to frame Anton Raphael Mengs in a specific stylistic movement nowadays that the chronological divisions and the consequent definitions of the art of the Enlightenment are going to be more and more controversial. Because of his eclectic and cosmopolitan activity, his ideas about Ideal Beauty spread across the countries affected by the apprehensions and hopes related to the 18th century. The bohemian painter dedicated his entire life to the study of ancient art; his marble collection of the statues from the great Italian collections interested the artists coming to the Eternal City, and he consecrates esthetic models of different epochs. Mengs never get away from these models – Ancient Greece, Raffaello Sanzio, Tiziano Vecellio, Antonio Correggio. His presence in Spain was favored by propitious circumstances: the coronation of an erudite, educate king, lover of Fine Arts, Charles III of Spain, a king so intimately close to the painter to guarantee him his protection in the difficult relation between Mengs and the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. The relation between the Institution and the Bohemian get complicated because of the different ideas about the organization of the academy and the education of the students. Because of the little original sources, several matters have not been resolved, for example the issue about the false ancient fresco of Jupiter and Ganymede, or the controversy about the Peña case, that brought to the final breakup between the artist and the consiliarios in San Fernando Institution. Mengs focused his attention in an even worse matter about the direction of the academy: concretely, which competences had to have the consiliarios and which the teachers. When Mengs asked to be accepted in the academy, he undoubtedly thought that the Institution was structured as the other great one in which he took part in Italy, San Luca National Academy in Rome. Within Mengs’ proposals to raise the level of the Academy in Madrid there was the institution of anatomy and surgery teachings, which intent was to revolutionize the concept of painters and sculptors. In spite of the difficulties that the first painter of Charles III had during his stay in San Fernando, his acting had a fundamental role in developing the Art Theory and particularly in the European artists’ training.

A.R. MENGS TRA ROMA E MADRID: LE INQUIETUDINI DEL PITTORE FILOSOFO SULL’ISTITUZIONE ACCADEMICA NELLA SECONDA METÀ DEL XVIII SECOLO.

It is difficult to frame Anton Raphael Mengs in a specific stylistic movement nowadays that the chronological divisions and the consequent definitions of the art of the Enlightenment are going to be more and more controversial. Because of his eclectic and cosmopolitan activity, his ideas about Ideal Beauty spread across the countries affected by the apprehensions and hopes related to the 18th century. The bohemian painter dedicated his entire life to the study of ancient art; his marble collection of the statues from the great Italian collections interested the artists coming to the Eternal City, and he consecrates esthetic models of different epochs. Mengs never get away from these models – Ancient Greece, Raffaello Sanzio, Tiziano Vecellio, Antonio Correggio. His presence in Spain was favored by propitious circumstances: the coronation of an erudite, educate king, lover of Fine Arts, Charles III of Spain, a king so intimately close to the painter to guarantee him his protection in the difficult relation between Mengs and the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. The relation between the Institution and the Bohemian get complicated because of the different ideas about the organization of the academy and the education of the students. Because of the little original sources, several matters have not been resolved, for example the issue about the false ancient fresco of Jupiter and Ganymede, or the controversy about the Peña case, that brought to the final breakup between the artist and the consiliarios in San Fernando Institution. Mengs focused his attention in an even worse matter about the direction of the academy: concretely, which competences had to have the consiliarios and which the teachers. When Mengs asked to be accepted in the academy, he undoubtedly thought that the Institution was structured as the other great one in which he took part in Italy, San Luca National Academy in Rome. Within Mengs’ proposals to raise the level of the Academy in Madrid there was the institution of anatomy and surgery teachings, which intent was to revolutionize the concept of painters and sculptors. In spite of the difficulties that the first painter of Charles III had during his stay in San Fernando, his acting had a fundamental role in developing the Art Theory and particularly in the European artists’ training.

How to Retrieve Information Inherent to Old Restorations Made on Frescoes of Particular Artistic Value Using Infrared Vision?

“Restoration is the methodological moment in which the artwork is appreciated in its material form and in its historical and aesthetic duality, with a view to transmitting it to the future” (C. Brandi). This work is inspired by this memorable definition. It is based both on the study of an ancient fresco and a fresco’s reproduction, assessing the principal defects afflicting this type of structures and aiming at reconstructing the restoration phases through the definition of a combined thermographic and reflectographic procedure that has the purpose of mapping the quality of the restoration itself and thinking of the future. According to Brandi, the timeline for an artwork can be divided into three parts. The first corresponding to the duration of the creative process conducted by the artist and culminating with the completion of the work. The second corresponds to an interval, which is the historical time elapsing from the conclusion of the work to the present. Last but not least, the moment, which is acknowledged in the consciousness of the observer who takes the responsibility of transmitting it to the future. The observer might also be the restorer. Indeed, the restoration takes place at the latter stage and it aims at re-establishing the potential unity of the artwork, to the highest level possible, without producing an artistic or historical forgery and without erasing any trace of the natural passage of time on the artwork. The infrared vision might help to reveal whether the restoration is done properly or not.

Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church (L’Aquila, Italy): Historical Reconstruction by Non-Destructive Testing Techniques

The main goal of this work was the non-destructive testing (NDT) of an ancient fresco (15th century) preserved in the Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church (L’Aquila, Italy) and damaged after the 2009 earthquake. Active infrared thermography (IRT), near-infrared (NIR) reflectography and ultraviolet imaging (UV) were used. In addition, the state of the fresco prior to the earthquake was analyzed by electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI), digital speckle correlation (DSC), raking light, tap, and chemical NDT techniques. The use of these techniques was important for the monitoring of new damages and for a comparison between the results over the years. Square heating thermography (SHT) data were processed using principal component thermography (PCT) and pulsed phase thermography (PPT) algorithms, in order to improve the defects’ signature and to reduce the impact of non-uniform heating and emissivity variations due to the painting’s pigments. A multi-analysis approach, segmentation operators and a specific data correlation method emphasize the overall study of the fresco. Furthermore, the facade and the high altar area were inspected by passive thermography and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), respectively. In the present case, the combined use of NDT techniques was useful to fill in the gaps in the construction history of the building.

A Novel Modified Algorithm for Local Statistic Enhancement

Image repair using the digital image processing technology has become a new hot point in the cultural relic protection. To study of ancient fresco restoration techniques, A novel algorithm of local statistic enhancement image is proposed in this paper for the reparation of ancient fresco. The modified amplified function and the rubber band conversion algorithm are used as the jugement criterion, and the optimal paremeters are searched by the genetic algorithm (GA). Experimental results show that the quality of images is improved compared with the traditional.

A.R. MENGS TRA ROMA E MADRID: LE INQUIETUDINI DEL PITTORE FILOSOFO SULL’ISTITUZIONE ACCADEMICA NELLA SECONDA METÀ DEL XVIII SECOLO

It is difficult to frame Anton Raphael Mengs in a specific stylistic movement nowadays that the chronological divisions and the consequent definitions of the art of the Enlightenment are going to be more and more controversial. Because of his eclectic and cosmopolitan activity, his ideas about Ideal Beauty spread across the countries affected by the apprehensions and hopes related to the 18th century. The bohemian painter dedicated his entire life to the study of ancient art; his marble collection of the statues from the great Italian collections interested the artists coming to the Eternal City, and he consecrates esthetic models of different epochs. Mengs never get away from these models – Ancient Greece, Raffaello Sanzio, Tiziano Vecellio, Antonio Correggio. His presence in Spain was favored by propitious circumstances: the coronation of an erudite, educate king, lover of Fine Arts, Charles III of Spain, a king so intimately close to the painter to guarantee him his protection in the difficult relation between Mengs and the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. The relation between the Institution and the Bohemian get complicated because of the different ideas about the organization of the academy and the education of the students. Because of the little original sources, several matters have not been resolved, for example the issue about the false ancient fresco of Jupiter and Ganymede, or the controversy about the Peñacase, that brought to the final breakup between the artist and the consiliarios in San Fernando Institution. Mengs focused his attention in an even worse matter about the direction of the academy: concretely, which competences had to have the consiliarios and which the teachers. When Mengs asked to be accepted in the academy, he undoubtedly thought that the Institution was structured as the other great one in which he took part in Italy, San Luca National Academy in Rome. Within Mengs’ proposals to raise the level of the Academy in Madrid there was the institution of anatomy and surgery teachings, which intent was to revolutionize the concept of painters and sculptors. In spite of the difficulties that the first painter of Charles III had during his stay in San Fernando, his acting had a fundamental role in developing the Art Theory and particularly in the European artists’ training.

'Mannigfaltigkeit des Farbenspiels': Goethe and Heinrich Meyer on Harmony Through Colour Variation

In Zur farbenlehre (1810), Goethe argued that colour harmony in painting required the presence of all three pairs of complementary colours, but did not specify in any detail how artists should put this principle into practice. Before his time, they had tended to handle colour in one of two distinctive ways, based either on the relationship of the different hues to one another, or on their tonal values. Goethe's and Heinrich Meyer's many scattered observations on the subject show them rejecting tonalism in favour of purely hue-based harmony, using local colour and the colours of reflected light, including cangianti. Their advocacy of this approach, exemplified for them by Veronese but also by ancient fresco artists and by Pietro da Cortona and Gottlieb Schick, brought them closer to Romantic art theorists such as A. W. Schlegel than to their classicizing contemporaries, who tended to diminish the role of colour in painting.

Mixing virtual and real scenes in the site of ancient Pompeii

This paper presents an innovative 3D reconstruction of ancient fresco paintings through the real-time revival of their fauna and flora, featuring groups of virtual animated characters with artifici...

Mixing virtual and real scenes in the site of ancient Pompeii

This paper presents an innovative 3D reconstruction of ancient fresco paintings through the real-time revival of their fauna and flora, featuring groups of virtual animated characters with artificial-life dramaturgical behaviours in an immersive, fully mobile augmented reality (AR) environment. The main goal is to push the limits of current AR and virtual storytelling technologies and to explore the processes of mixed narrative design of fictional spaces (e.g. fresco paintings) where visitors can experience a high degree of realistic immersion. Based on a captured/real-time video sequence of the real scene in a video-see-through HMD set-up, these scenes are enhanced by the seamless accurate real-time registration and 3D rendering of realistic complete simulations of virtual flora and fauna (virtual humans and plants) in a real-time storytelling scenario-based environment. Thus the visitor of the ancient site is presented with an immersive and innovative multi-sensory interactive trip to the past. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An ancient fresco in farnborough church

An ancient fresco in farnborough church Get access C. C. L. C. C. L. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s6-VI, Issue 154, 9 December 1882, Page 468, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s6-VI.154.468b Published: 09 December 1882