San Gemini Preservation Studies

Module 1 - Theory class 1

History and Evolution Mural Painting

History of Mural painting

• Crete, Greece and Egypt

• India and China

• Pre-Columbian Americas

• Etruscan Murals

• Roman Fresco

• Encausto

• Medieval Fresco

• Renaissance Fresco

• Sgraffito

• Secco other methods of mural painting

• Baroque decorations on gesso

• Modern mural painting

Materials and Methods in Italy

• Structural support

Masonry walls

Wood structures and lath

• Plaster support

  Fresco: arriccio, intonaco

  Secco: arriccio intonaco,

• Image preparation and transfer

  Cartoni

  Stencils

  Sinopia

  Spolvero

  Giornata

• Pigments

  Carbonation

  Organic Binders

• Coatings

• Glazes and varnishes

Module 1 - Field Work/ Workshop

Materials, Methods, Surveying and Documentation

Workshop:

Painting Samples

Students make samples of different painting techniques using traditional materials and methods.

• Fresco encausticato (fresco polished with bees wax)

• Medieval Fresco

• Renaissance Fresco

• Sgraffito

• Secco mural painting

• Baroque decorations on gesso

• Gilding on fresco and gesso

Field work:

Inside Church of San Giovanni Battista Monastery of the Maddalena

Surveying and Documentation

• Photographic

• Infrared

• Lazer scanning

• Grazing light

• Spectroscopy

• Taping (sound)

• Ultrasound testing

• Endoscopies

• Documentation

• Scientific Testing

Removing Whitewashes

• Testing samples

• Large scale

Module 1 - Theory class 2

Mural paintings: materials, physics and chemistry

Support:

• Stone

• Lime plaster

• Gesso

Pictorial layers

• Pigments

• Carbonation

• Organic binders (temperas)

• Gilding

• Coatings: traditional, modern

Mural Painting Conservation Program

San Gemini, Italy - January 4 to May14, 2027

Module 1

Mural painting in Italy: history, technology, analysis and documentation

(3 credits) January 4 – January 29, 2027 (4 weeks)

Our programs & projects

San Gemini Book & Paper

Mural Painting Conservation

Restoration

SGPS Summer

Research

SG Historic Archives