The Images of Art and the Art of Images

In recent decades the problem of safeguarding historical and artistic heritage, in Italy and in the world, has become increasingly more apparent. Along with this constant cultural growth, an accelerated technological development has occurred creating numerous methodologies and equipment, which are more effective and less intrusive towards researched heritage. In this article we intend to provide a concise re-evaluation of some applications that aim to conserve with the use of undisruptive multispectral methodologies conducted by us in recent years on mosaics, frescos, archaeological structures, wall vestments and graffiti in Ravenna, Rome and Pompeii. Simplified, it is a matter of collecting, with adapted cameras, and then studying, with the aid of a variety of mathematical techniques, an object's reflected or emitted radiation, not only dealing with visible spectrum, that the human eye can perceive, but also utilising the nearby infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) groups, invisible to us. In this publication we cannot describe every single technique that has been used in detail. Nevertheless, to provide an example, we can mention an outline of the reflectography, that also happens to be the first method that we experimented with. This is a multispectral enquiry in common use for the study of textile paintings; moreover, in various cases it has proven itself to be useful for wall paintings, and has recently been applied by us in an extensive manner to improve knowledge and preservation of mosaic surfaces located on walls. This type of monitoring is objective if it is performed with a systematic and well defined methodology. lt is also entirely non-invasive and allows the eventual identification of sub-superficial elements (contrition, preparatory drawings, interventions to restore surfaces and/or underlying material, etc.) through the use of acquired infrared images. It can also provide an expert user a qualitative description of the surface materials under examination. The possibility of comparing at least eight different images (corresponding to as many spectral bands) for each single region provides a large quantity of often undervalued information. In other words, this process analyses the same subject from eight distinct points of view and it allows us to make a comparison: a patient and competent scholar of various reflectography images is like an expert musician listening to a choir, with his own experience and expert opinion being able to distinguish the scores of single voices thus developing a sort of stratigraphy of the musical piece. Before describing the area of our research we would like to quickly spend a few moments trying to clarify the meaning of the chosen title. The first part obviously refers to the object of our research, even if the terni image is intended in an allembracing way: a representation of a work of art allowed by the tools applied, not necessarily mimetic of the work under examination (as suggested by the meaning of the word image), but in some cases very different in respect to the impression that an observer could perceive. The second part aims to underline an important aspect of our research, that as the years have gone by we have continued learning how to value. In fact, in virtue of the technical means and mathematics at out disposition, today it is possible to produce a large quantity of data and thus images of the studied heritage. However, a growth of information actually useful for our knowledge and ability to preserve does not automatically derive from this. The risk is that we could lose ourselves in descriptions which are too analytical, not grasping synthetic aspects, capable of suggesting something new that we did not already understand or that had not been adequately figured out, which might be able to guide us towards the maximum conservation of the works of art to insure their integrity for those who follow us. So, in certain cases what occurs for interpreting the images is not only a precise methodology 171 - that is certainly essential - but also a special aptitude, nourished by vast experience, a knowledge which is in a certain way craftsmanship, that in various aspects seems to be dose to an art. In fact, there are some similarities, like imagination, quick and infiltrating intuition yet the patience to experiment and to lead ourselves without preconception towards new solutions by what we discover bit by bit. In conclusion, even if it is easy to remain fascinated by the extraordinary possibilities offered by modern technology, amplified by processing on evermore powerful computers, in our opinion to obtain real progress the contribution of fully developed and mature professionals, as mentioned above, will always remain essential.