Scientists using a new technique have discovered the colorful and once hidden scenes in paintings of the ancient Etruscans, a group of people who thrived on the Italian peninsula about 2500 years ago in a time before Rome became powerful.
For example, they found new details in a painting from the “Tomb of the Monkey” and scenes from an underworld in another work of art.
The Etruscans made detailed paintings, but the passage of time has meant that many of them are now only partially visible and that much of their color has been lost.
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A major problem is the significant loss of information about the multicolor [colors] Gloria Adinolfi, a researcher at Pegaso Srl Archeologia Arte Archeometria (a research institute), said in a presentation on January 8 at the virtual joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies.
The fact that some colors survive better over time than others can give a distorted picture of what ancient paintings looked like when they were painted, Adinolfi said. Some shades of green, for example, tend not to survive well, while reds often do, she said. “Red oak usually looks more durable, so sometimes red is predominant and changes the correct perception of the original multicolor of the picture decoration,” Adinolfi said.
Public antique paintings
To reveal the paintings, the scientists use a technique called multi-illumination hyperspectral extraction (MHX), which involves tens of images in the visible, infrared and ultraviolet light belts and process them using statistical algorithms developed at the National Research Council of Italy in Pisa, said team member Vincenzo Palleschi, a senior researcher at the research council.
The technique can detect Egyptian blue, a color developed in ancient Egypt and ‘responds very specifically in a single spectral band’, Palleschi said. The team also analyzed the remains of other remaining colors to help determine what colors were in the painting.
Combining the MHX and color analyzes, the team revealed disappearing scenes from ancient Etruscan paintings. During the presentation, the researchers unveiled several examples, including details of paintings depicting the Etruscan underworld depicting rocks, trees and water.
In the tomb of the monkey, so named because a painting in the tomb shows a monkey on a tree, the researchers discovered details of a painting depicting a person. To the naked eye, the painting looks like a red fade, but after the MHX and color analyzes were completed, the painting clearly showed that a person was wearing an object and had his hair and face. The tomb was discovered in the 19th century, but now, with the new technology, the painting has become much more visible.
The team’s research continues and more paintings may be released in the future.
Originally published on Live Science.