Late Roman Iconography and Style

Discussions of late Roman style and iconography sometimes tend to emphasize the liminality of visual culture in late antiquity; monuments representative of the period such as the Arch of Constantine are neither fully “classical” nor “medieval” in their form and content; hence, the instinct to compare its style and iconography with that of the past or future monuments is hard to resist. The result of this lure to dichotomize is often a focus on what a late Roman work of art is not, rather than what it is (i.e., how an artwork or monument functions in its contemporary moment). This chapter therefore presents the wall paintings from the late third- to early fourth-century domus underneath the Church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo on the Caelian Hill in Rome as a case study of a particular moment in late Roman visuality so as to better understand how engagements with iconography and style in the context of the late Roman home activate “modern” meanings and experiences.

Organic Matter and Pigments in the Wall Paintings of Me-Taw-Ya Temple in Bagan Valley, Myanmar

Pagán is an ancient city located in Myanmar that is renowned for the remains of about 4000 pagodas, stupas, temples and monasteries dating from the 11th to 13th centuries. Due to a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in 2016, more than 300 ancient buildings were seriously damaged. As a part of the post-earthquake emergency program, a diagnostic pilot project was carried out on Me-taw-ya temple wall paintings to acquire further information on the materials and on their state of conservation. This article presents our attempts at characterising the painting materials at Me-taw-ya temple using non-invasive portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), portable Raman spectroscopy and micro-invasive attenuated total reflectance—Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), micro-Raman spectroscopy (µ-Raman), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), polarized light microscopy (PLM) and environmental scanning electron microscope—X-ray energy dispersive system (ESEM-EDS) investigations with the aim of identifying the composition of organic binders and pigments. The presence of a proteinaceous glue mixed with the lime-based plaster was ascertained and identified by GC-MS. In addition, this technique confirmed the occurrence of plant-derived gums as binders pointing to the a secco technique. Fe-based compounds, vermillion, carbon black and As-compounds were identified to have been incorporated in the palette of the murals.

Staircase turret of the St. George’s cathedral in the Yuriev Monastery: archaeology, architecture and fresco painting

The article focuses on the architecture of the staircase turret of the St. George’s Cathedral in the Yuriev (St. George’s) Monastery near Novgorod and fresco wall paintings in the drum and dome at the top of the turret as well as those marked on the walls of the spiral staircase itself. This painting made in the first half of the 12th century can be interpreted in different ways: at present, experts have been associating it with the monastic use. Moreover, the room in the drum of the dome is regarded as a solitary space for monastic prayer. The analysis of the architecture of the staircase turret leads to conclusion that most of its features are related to the princely order and with the main purpose of the tower: a way to rise to the choir loft intended for the prince and his entourage. In this regard, the understanding of the nature of the painting at the top of the turret may change. The article also touches on the chronology of the construction and painting of the St. George’s Cathedral: the painting of the turret was suddenly stopped, which may be due to several events. The most probable one is the beginning of the construction of the princely St. John’s Church in Petryatin Court in 1127, where masters from the St. George’s Cathedral could be transferred to.

The Anglo-Catalan Connection: The Cult of Thomas Becket at Terrassa—New Approaches

The wall paintings adorning the south transept apse of Santa Maria at Terrassa are among the most notable surviving items pertaining to the iconography of St. Thomas Becket. Recently found documents in which diplomatic archives reveal English connections are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon. The presence of an Anglo-Norman canon—Arveus or Harveus (Harvey)—and his position of scribe during the second half of the twelfth century when Reginald, probably also of English origin, was prior there—seem to be the likely source of inspiration for this project. These English connections, which are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon, stemmed from the endeavours undertaken some years earlier south of the Pyrenees by the abbot of Saint-Ruf at Avignon, Nicholas Breakspear, who subsequently became Pope Adrian IV.

Space–Object–Landscape

This chapter interrogates a number of normative assumptions about “landscape” as an art-historical category current in the discipline. It proceeds by means of some very diverse thought-objects significantly separated by time and space—Chinese pagoda paintings found in the Dunhuang caves that are simultaneously concrete poems, British stone circles such as Stonehenge and standing crosses including that at Bewcastle, Roman wall paintings from Pompeii—because the issues are not specifically historical or historicist but rather more broadly conceptual and span the archaeological history of art from the Neolithic to modernity, not least interrogating certain practices in contemporary earth art. The intent is to interrogate what is meant by ‘landscape’ when treated as an art-historical category.

Revealing Underdrawings in Wall Paintings of Complex Stratigraphy with a Novel Reflectance Photoacoustic Imaging Prototype

Revealing precious hidden features by a completely non-invasive approach is one of the crucial issues in the Heritage Science field. In this regard, concealed fresco paintings still represent an analytical challenge. This paper addresses the specific issue in wall painting diagnostics by the photoacoustic (PA) imaging technique, already proven to be efficient in revealing underdrawings and internal stratigraphy in movable paintings on paper and canvas. A newly set-up reflection PA prototype was applied here for the first time to probe the charcoal, graphite and sinopia hidden sketch drawings in concealed (gypsum, limewash, overpainted) wall paintings. The results presented here push forward the frontiers of the PA imaging technique and point to its potential effectiveness of revealing hidden underdrawings in historical wall paintings with complex stratigraphy.

Nondestructive Analysis of Wall Paintings at Ostia Antica

Roman wall paintings at Ostia Antica were studied for the first time in situ in an integrated approach using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) depth profiling, portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and visible induced luminescence (VIL) in order to explore the materials used in their construction and gain insight into the evolution of the Roman painting technique over time. NMR revealed the signatures of covered wall paintings through details of the structure of the top painted mortar layers, and the loss of this information that can be encountered when paintings are detached from the wall for preservation purposes. XRF provided information about the pigment composition of the paintings, and VIL was used to identify Egyptian Blue. Egyptian Blue was only found in the earlier wall paintings studied dating from 1st century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. The pigment palette seems to become limited to iron-based pigments in the later paintings, whereas the palette of the earlier paintings appears to be more varied including mercury, lead, and copper-based pigments.