FCIR Imaging

The False Colour Infrared (FCIR) is based on the different response of materials in infrared radiation and combines visible RGB colour and infrared imaging. It has been used for materials differentiation and characterization, especially for painted works of art and pigments research. Visible, infrared and FCIR images of historical pigments, constructed using the traditional egg-tempera technique, demonstrate the different levels of transparency in IR radiation and the variety of pseudo-colours produced from FCIR . The latter reaffirms the results of previous FCIR studies in pigment identification. The blue and green colours appear reddish or grey in case of azurite. Yellow colours in FCIR derived from red-orange pigments.  Among them, vermillion produces the brighter, most impressive yellow tones.  Dark yellow brownish colours result in pale green, while lemon yellow turn to white. Umber and raw sienna remains brown, even if it acquires a brighter tone.

We are exloring the FCIR-RTI’s potential for the development of a new diagnostic methodology. In that way the RTI visualization would encapsulate, apart from the information related to shape, geometry and colour usually found in visible RTI, and the hidden details beneath the visible of IR-RTI, an initial indication about the chemical composition of the object under examination.

Testers of historic pigments
Testers of historic pigments, egg-tempera technique. Digital image (left) IR image (middle) and FCIR image (right).
Wall painting fragments from the Derveni Cemetery, Macedonia, Greece
Wall painting fragments from the Derveni Cemetery, Macedonia, Greece, clockwise from top left, digital image, FCIR image, IR images at 950 nm, 850 nm and 720 nm. The fragments are located in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

Written by

I earned my BSc in Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art from the Technological Educational Institution of Athens in 2007. My BSc thesis was dealing with Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) monitoring of the artificial ageing of commercial acrylic and vinyl adhesives/consolidants, in the form of thin films on glass as well as applied on clay mortars. In 2008 I transferred to the MSc in Archaeological Computing (Virtual Pasts), University of Southampton. My MSc thesis was focused on virtual reconstruction and ageing analysis of a glass, an enamelled metal and a painted ceramic from the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Southampton. I further developed my skills in Hawk University of Applied Sciences and Arts - Hornemann Institute, Germany, following a continuing education programme for professional conservators in 2009. In 2010 I started my PhD, which examines the application of computer graphics in conservation-restoration of artefacts. I am working either as museum conservator (painted surfaces, wood, bone, metal, glass, stone, ceramic) or in monuments and archaeological sites (wall painting, mortar, stone, mosaics) since 2004. My working experience includes cooperation with museums, cultural organizations and research centres in Greece, such as: The National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) KH' Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Amphipolis ΚΖ’ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Makrigialos Archaeological Institute of Macedonian and Thracian Studies, Thessaloniki 8th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Ioannina Institute of Nuclear Physics, NCSR Demokritos, Athens Building Materials Laboratory, School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Art Diagnosis Centre Foundation Ormylia, Chalkidiki American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Pylos      

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