Multi-analysis of the Wood Painting "Polyptych of the Virgin" by Antonio Vivarini and Stefano da Sant' Agnese in Church of San Zaccaria

Abstract

Introduction: The Polyptych of the Virgin studied by this thesis, is composed of five tempera paintings. They’re painted by two different artists, Antonio Vivarini and Stefano da Sant’Agnese. Currently, this Polyptych of the Virgin has been commissioned by ICR for restoration. In so far, there have been no attempts to analyze this “Polyptych of the Virgin.” Therefore, the scientific results can help understand the artist’s techniques and the material used to understand the paintings better. In this thesis, the objects will be studied mainly by image analysis (IR\UV\radiographic) and in-situ XRF analytical. Specifically, the following questions were asked: 1. Draft drawings or modifications in these five wooden paintings. 2. Interventions of paintings in the past. 3. The chemical composition of some pigments used in these paintings. In this type of research, a complete IR image needs to be stitched together from multiple partial images, usually done manually. On the one hand, this approach should minimize the number of partial photos, which will reduce the fineness of the photos to a certain extent; On the other hand, it is extremely time-consuming. A major challenge in this experiment is that we need to collect IR images of five paintings, which will involve a large number of partial pictures. Manually stitching pictures is almost hard to do. So, this research will try to find a suitable method of automatically stitching IR images. In order to improve the resolution of the image, show as many details as possible, and improve work efficiency at the same time. The focus of this research is not only to improve the scientific information of this object, it is also essential to provide more effective information for the work of the restorers and by understanding the needs of the restoration process, carrying out targeted testing, and integrating scientific analysis for restoration, instead of just providing scientific data. This research is carried out simultaneously with the restoration work, which could provide a significant opportunity to establish a close connection between restoration work and scientific analysis to use the information and technology held by both parties effectively.