Probing the birthplace of the Epirus/NW Greece School of painting: analytical investigation of the Filanthropinon monastery murals. Part II: non-pigment materials and painting technique

The sixteenth century Filanthropinon monastery murals mark the emergence of the important post-Byzantine painting school of Epirus. Detailed probing of the materials and techniques of the Filanthropinon works revealed that the workshop involved in the first painting phase (1531/2 AD) is sufficiently distinct from that responsible for the two subsequent phases (1542 and 1560 AD). As regards gilding, high purity gold leaf decorations are mainly seen in the nave paintings; an artifact-free way of determination of leaf thickness via micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (mu-XRF) leads to a value of ca. 0.15 mu m and this is noteworthy in view of the intricate manipulations required for the gilding of murals. As regards the execution of paintings, all three Filanthropinon painting phases involve mostly a mixed fresco-lime paint technique that makes use of proteinaceous binders, while very few pictorial elements were rendered in true secco; this is a remarkable finding as according to the currently dominant view, post-Byzantine wall paintings were executed in a fresco-secco technique. Finally, a comparison of our various findings with pertinent instructions included in the well-known Hermeneia of Dionysius of Fourna suggests that the latter manual describes in a realistic manner important features of the painting practice of post-Byzantine artists.