Characterization of technology from four-panel paintings

The contribution of hieromonk Dionysius from Fourna in central Greece and his Hermeneia of Art Painting is decisive because it gathers all the previously scattered advices and guidelines about the construction of portable panel paintings. He was the first painter of the Post-Byzantine period who wrote an artists'' manual for the Eastern Orthodox painting art. In this context 4 panel painting signed by Dionysius were selected for scientific research. A research protocol of imaging techniques and physicochemical analyses was carried out aiming to characterize the materials and the construction technology applied by Dionysius concerning the construction of the 4 panel paintings and compare the results with all the relative references mentioned in his work Hermeneia of Art Painting in order to ascertain whether all that he mentions in his manuscript are being applied in practice. The obtained results will help to study Dionysius painting technique and perform an attempt to compare his technique with his earlier treatise. It was the first time that an extensive physicochemical research on his panel paintings concerning his painting technique was applied