ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The technology of painting materials explores the type and properties of each element from which a work of painting is made, and the technique of the painting process

History of Study
The first information on the process of research and study of picturesque technologies and techniques dates back to the XVIII . . and in their enthusiasm and aspiration for education, became part of the culture of this age. This is the time of the Great Archaeological Exhibitions of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, as well as achievements in science, the origin of industrial production in Western Europe. The need to store archaeological monuments and develop scientific methods for their conservation and restoration is the reason to seek and publish any written sources that are related to the technology of painting materials, the technique of the painting process, the iconography and the aesthetic aspects of artistic creation from the deepest ancient to the present day. Since the middle and second half of the 19th century, these publications have become more and more analytical to the written reports of ancient and medieval tracts and manusscripts, ermines of zographs, results of physical and chemical studies of material sources, monuments of cavalry and monumental painting from different ages are added.

Large museums and galleries were created ateliers of conservation and restoration in 1919. The British Museum laboratory was opened and later in the Museum of Ancient Art in Cairo. In the art schools and academies began studying an subject related to painting materials and techniques in 1863 the School of Fine Arts in Paris was introduced such a discipline in which was studied elementary chemistry related to the problems of painting and the first lecturer in it was Louis Pasteur.

In Bulgaria the study of picturesque technologies and techniques began in the middle of the 20th century, with the first more significant guide being published in 1949. For the preservation of our cultural and historical heritage in 1957 was established the National Institute for Monuments of Culture (NIPC), as well as the first laboratories of conservation and restoration. They conduct research on original works of ancient and medieval art to study the technology and technique of old Bulgarian painting. The most significant results in the process of research and documentation were achieved in the period after the 60s of the 20th century, in parallel to this are studied and published written sources by technology and technique of the old paintings of antiquity and medieval times. In 1976 Assen Vassiliev first published two Bulgarian handwritten monuments