New insight about the mural painting branches of Roman baths in Reggio Calabria

Abstract

The Roman baths in Reggio Calabria (Italy) provides many information regarding both engineering and technology for this type of buildings. A small treasure of three survived mural paintings enclose information about the artistic style and the ancient luxury of the baths. In order to get light on the executive technique and conservation state we performed the investigation of these paintings by following a non invasive approach composed of multispectral imaging and spectroscopic analysis. By so doing we determined the pigment palette and the distribution of some pigments allowing us to make some hypothesis about the executive technique and provide a basis for a future virtual restoration of the paintings.