AN EVALUATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF VIDEO MICROSCOPY IN THE EXAMINATION, RECORDING AND MONITORING OF WALL PAINTINGS IN SITU (COURTAULD INSTITUTE OF ART DISSERTATION)

Author(s): A Heritage

The recent availability of portable, hand-held video microscopes could encourage conservators and scientists to overcome the difficulties presented by in situ microposy, helping to refine and reduce sampling, and providing information relevant to the wall painting surface in context. The video microscope produces a magnified colour image display on a monitor, allowing on-site group viewing and discussion. Its potential is to reveal fine surface details (1x000x magnification), to record and store images (using video, digital and/or photographic processes) for reference and analysis; and finally to allow the comparison of carefully referenced images recorded at different times to assist monitoring of surface change. However, these three distinct applications - examination, recording and monitoring - become progressively more demanding in application, both in planning and equipment requirement. Hand -held examination exploits the flexibility and freedom of the video microscope allowing the surface investigation of relitavely large areas of painting. Steady hand-held imaging is possible using low magnification lenses (<20x). For recording purposes, steady images with variable lighting conditions and magnification (7x-400x in this study), are essential. Considerable planning and extra equipment is required: video recorder, and/or hard copy printers, text generator, camera supports and stands. Images can be referenced by labelling video tape with relevant information (superimposed text or soundtrack). Final tape editing can improve presentation, but tape-to-tape copying will result in some loss of image quality. While monitoring - requiring still more equipement and planning - is the most challenging application, it is also potentially very rewarding, by showing how decay mechanisms occur using micro-monitoring to record the dynamics (rate, stages) of surface change (eg the growth of salt crystals). [Long summary - see report].

Report Number:

66/1994

Series:

AML Reports (New Series)

Pages:

116

Keywords:

Conservation Methological Research Pigment