Microclimate analysis of deteriorated wall paintings: With restitution of original decoration through imaging

Abstract

The restoration of deteriorated wall paintings in an underground environment requires at the outset a complex analytical approach designed to clarify the deterioration processes. These can be identified and prioritized using continuous microclimatic monitoring with multichannel analytical loggers, providing abundant data on climatology, airflow and hydrogeology in real or semireal time. The investigator can therefore have an almost instantaneous idea of the evolving microclimatic conditions of the monument, identifying among other variables the condensation or evaporation phases of the walls and the rising or sinking of the underground water table when the monument ‘has its feet in the water’, as in the case described here of St Emilion (France). In addition, electronic image capture in situ can be used to decode and restitute very damaged paintings that have become difficult to read, with a view to their being eventually presented to the public.