This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9527, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

Laser ablation offers cleaning method for historical and art works effectively. Difference between ablation threshold of contamination layer and the surface yields to remove contaminants from surface without detriment to historical material. In particular, lasers with ultrashort pulse duration are very convenient for brittle historical papers, fibers of which should be intact after cleaning treatment. Since duration of laser irradiation and material interaction is very short, the possibility of damage to the paper is very low. One of the other crucial issues after paper cleaning treatment is color variation on the surface. Authentic color of the historical paper has to be preserved after the procedure. In this paper, we present results of paper cleaning via femtosecond (fs) laser running at a wavelength of 1030 nm. In the first stage of this experimental study, we determined optimum laser parameters on artificially soiled and aged paper samples, then cleaned a handwritten manuscript with ‘sizing’. In calligraphy, ornamentation and miniature arts, sizing is applied on paper as a protective layer which increases strength of paper and renders it more useful. Papers with sizing have been prevalently used in Islamic or Ottoman culture. We observed that after laser irradiation, artificial soling layer is effectively removed, while original color of the subs-layers did not alter. We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine fiber integrity, and determined that the sizing layer was not removed when optimized parameters were used, thus the fibers were not damaged.

Optical Coherence Tomography has been successfully applied to the non-invasive imaging of subsurface microstructure of a variety of materials from biological tissues to painted objects of art. One of the limitations of the technique is the low depth of penetration due to the strong scattering and absorption in the material. Previous studies found that for paint materials, the optimum window for large depth of penetration is around 2.2 microns. This is also true for many other materials with low water content. We have previously demonstrated OCT systems in this wavelength regime for imaging with improved depth of penetration. In this paper, we present an improved 2 micron high resolution Fourier domain OCT system using a broadband supercontinuum source. The system achieved a depth resolution of 9 microns in air (or 6 microns in paint or any polymer).

In the dome imaging system at UCL, sets of pixel-registered images can be captured, with a different direction of illumination for each image. A new method has been developed to estimate surface normals more accurately by solving the photometric normal equations as a regression over a set of illumination angles and intensities selected from the subset corresponding to the diffuse component of reflection from the object surface (the 'body colour'). The gradients are integrated to reconstruct a digital terrain map, using a Fourier transform to regularise (i.e. enforce integrability of) the gradients in the frequency domain. This yields a 3D surface that is continuous but distorted over the whole area with the height greatly amplified. The problem is that although the gradients give a good representation of the spatial frequencies in the surface, right up to the Nyquist frequency, they are not accurate for very low frequencies of a few cycles over the full object diameter. Such frequencies are represented in the Fourier plane by only a few sample points close to the (shifted) origin. Errors in these frequencies can result in 'curl' or 'heave' in the baseplane, even though the superimposed higher spatial frequencies may be accurate. The solution is to replace the inaccurate low frequencies of the photometric normals by the more accurate low frequencies of a surface constructed from a few known heights. This is conveniently achieved from the values measured by a digital height gauge by interpolating to produce a smooth ‘hump’ and then transforming into the frequency domain by an FFT.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a contactless and non-destructive testing (NDT) technique based on low-coherence interferometry. It has recently become a popular NDT-tool for evaluating cultural heritage. In this study, protective coatings on wood and their penetration into the wood structure were measured with a customized infrared fiber optic OCT instrument. In order to enhance the understanding of the OCT measurements of coatings on real wooden samples, an optimization of the measuring and analyzing methodology was performed by developing an averaging approach and by post-processing the data. The collected information was complemented by data obtained with hyperspectral imaging to allow data from local OCT A-scans to be used in mapping the coating thicknesses over larger areas.

We demonstrate that ultrafast pump-probe microscopy provides unique dynamics for natural iron oxide and iron hydroxide earth pigments, despite their chemical similarity. First, we conducted a pump-probe spectroscopy study on heat-treated hematite (the pure red iron oxide mineral) and found the pump-probe dynamics to be temperature dependent. Second, we investigated pottery fired under known conditions and observed firing dependent pump-probe dynamics. Finally, we imaged a New World potshard from the North Carolina Museum of Art. Our results indicate that pump-probe microscopy could be a useful tool in elucidating pottery manufacture.

In presented paper we study the influence of spatial and temporal coherence of light source on resolution and depth of focus of holographic reconstructions. Presented holographic display setup uses phase - only spatial light modulator and realizes complex coding shame which allows to reconstruct objects in volume centered around plane of the modulator. In simulations we implement partially coherent reconstructions of complex hologram theory. It allows to investigate quality of holographic reconstructions for various degree of illuminating light coherence. During experimental tests we validate simulation results. We show that the influence of spatial coherence effect of light source on resolution of reconstructed objects is stronger than that of temporal coherence. Moreover we prove that it is possible to obtain high quality holographic reconstructions for large size source and wide spectrum for objects having large depths.

In this paper we analyze some problems related to the acquisition of multiple illumination images for Polynomial Texture Maps (PTM) or generic Reflectance Transform Imaging (RTI). We show that intensity and directionality nonuniformity can be a relevant issue when acquiring manual sets of images with the standard highlight-based setup both using a flash lamp and a LED light. To maintain a cheap and flexible acquisition setup that can be used on field and by non-experienced users we propose to use a dynamic calibration and correction of the lights based on multiple intensity and direction estimation around the imaged object during the acquisition.

Preliminary tests on the results obtained have been performed by acquiring a specifically designed 3D printed pattern in order to see the accuracy of the acquisition obtained both for spatial discrimination of small structures and normal estimation, and on samples of different types of paper in order to evaluate material discrimination.

We plan to design and build from our analysis and from the tools developed and under development a set of novel procedures and guidelines that can be used to turn the cheap and common RTI acquisition setup from a simple way to enrich object visualization into a powerful method for extracting quantitative characterization both of surface geometry and of reflective properties of different materials. These results could have relevant applications in the Cultural Heritage domain, in order to recognize different materials used in paintings or investigate the ageing status of artifacts’ surface.

Monitoring can be defined as any technique or method used to measure the technical condition of a structure. There are various categories of monitoring based on different criteria, e.g. monitoring goals, types of measurement (static, dynamic), testing characteristics (destructive, quasi-destructive, non-destructive), time period of monitoring etc. The authors of the paper present a concept for a monitoring programme for the Centennial Hall in Wroclaw. They present also preliminary results of displacement measurements of the lower tension ring of the Hall obtained used optical methods.

In this work, pulsed phase thermography (PPT), principal component thermography (PCT), and partial least squares thermography (PLST) techniques were applied in order to detect the masonry texture, as well as to map the subsurface damages formed beneath three different mural paintings. The latter were inspected after the 2009 earthquake, i.e., the seismic event that devastated L’Aquila City (Italy) and its surroundings. The mural supports explored by infrared thermography (IRT) are constituted by a single leaf, and the sides of the inspected paintings are confined by marble frames or by buried horizontal and vertical structures. Hence, the analyzed objects can be considered as monolithic structures. IRT can help to understand the masonry morphology, e.g. if there exist structural continuity between the arriccio layer (the first coat of plaster) and the support. In the present case, the heating phase was provided by lamps or propane gas and feature detection was enhanced by advanced signal processing. A comparison among the results is presented. Two of the three objects analyzed, painted by the art masters Serbucci and Avicola, are preserved inside Santa Maria della Croce di Roio Church in Roio Poggio (L’Aquila, Italy); they were executed on two masonries built in different periods. The last one was realized in Montorio al Vomano (Teramo, Italy) on the internal cloister of the Zoccolanti’s Church (undated). The villages are separated by 50 km as the crow flies. Finally, near-infrared reflectography (NIRR) technique was also used to investigate the condition of the painting layer.

The selection of representative areas to be analyzed is a common problem in the study of Cultural Heritage items. UV fluorescence photography is an extensively used technique to highlight specific surface features which cannot be observed in visible light (e.g. restored parts or treated with different materials), and it proves to be very effective in the study of historical musical instruments. In this work we propose a new semi-automatic solution for selecting areas with the same perceived color (a simple clue of similar materials) on UV photos, using a specifically designed interactive tool. The proposed method works in two steps: (i) users select a small rectangular area of the image; (ii) program automatically highlights all the areas that have the same color of the selected input. The identification is made by the analysis of the image in HSV color model, the most similar to the human perception. The achievable result is more accurate than a manual selection, because it can detect also points that users do not recognize as similar due to perception illusion. The application has been developed following the rules of usability, and Human Computer Interface has been improved after a series of tests performed by expert and non-expert users. All the experiments were performed on UV imagery of the Stradivari violins collection stored by "Museo del Violino" in Cremona.

Cultural Heritage is discovering how precious is thermal analysis as a tool to improve the restoration, thanks to its ability to inspect hidden details. In this work a novel dual mode imaging approach, based on the integration of thermography and thermal quasi-reflectography (TQR) in the mid-IR is demonstrated for an effective mapping of surface materials and of sub-surface detachments in mural painting. The tool was validated through a unique application: the “Monocromo” by Leonardo da Vinci in Italy. The dual mode acquisition provided two spatially aligned dataset: the TQR image and the thermal sequence. Main steps of the workflow included: 1) TQR analysis to map surface features and 2) to estimate the emissivity; 3) projection of the TQR frame on reference orthophoto and TQR mosaicking; 4) thermography analysis to map detachments; 5) use TQR to solve spatial referencing and mosaicking for the thermal-processed frames. Referencing of thermal images in the visible is a difficult aspect of the thermography technique that the dual mode approach allows to solve in effective way. We finally obtained the TQR and the thermal maps spatially referenced to the mural painting, thus providing the restorer a valuable tool for the restoration of the detachments.

The aim of this study is to evaluate experimentally how well available metrics are able to evaluate how lighting sources affect the perception of visual attributes of artworks exhibited, providing useful indications for works of art exhibition designers. The study considers objective investigations on optical material properties (i.e. spectral reflection factor) compared to subjective tests on colour attributes evaluation of artworks lighted by common lamps (incandescent and fluorescent lamps) and LED lighting sources.

Commission International Eclairage (CIE) developed several mathematical methods to predict colour rendering of lighting source, as well visual attributes of materials, but are only an approximation of the material appearance: too many parameters of influence, subjects expectancy included, influence the appearance. In artwork exhibition visual appearance is of fundamental importance and currently no reliable and robust appearance model is available. Comparing objective evaluations and subjective results for lighting set up comparable to works of art exhibition, will provide useful indications on the applicability of colorimetric calculation to artwork exhibition when LED are involved.

Visual attributes (hue, saturation, brightness…) of six different colours under LED and not-LED sources at the same Correlate Colour Temperature were compared to the associate objective characteristics calculated from the spectral reflectance.

The results show that the perception of visual attributes differs from objective data when SSL sources are involved and when colours are perceived in complex samples: in some cases the visual system is not coherent with the suggestions arising from the calculations.

We systematically examined the mid-20th century Italian painting "After Fishing" (fig. 1) by Ausonio Tanda using multi-spectral (UV, RGB visible, tri-band IR), x-ray and terahertz time-domain spectroscopic imaging. THz-TDSI was performed in both transmission and reflection geometries and the results were compared.

The abbey’s church of Chaalis, in the North of Paris, was founded by Louis VI as a Cistercian monastery on 10th January 1137. In 2013, in the frame the European Commission's 7th Framework Program project CHARISMA [grant agreement no. 228330] the chapel was used as a practical case-study for application of the work done in a task devoted to best practices in historical buildings and monuments. In the chapel, three areas were identified as relevant. The first area was used to make an exercise on diagnosis of the different deterioration patterns. The second area was used to analyze a restored area. The third one was selected to test some hypotheses on the possibility of using the portable instruments to answer some questions related to the deterioration problems. To inspect this area, different tools were used:

-Visible fluorescence under UV,

- THz system,

- Stimulated Infra-Red Thermography, SIRT

- Digital Holographic Speckle Pattern Interferometry, DHSPI

- Condition report by conservator-restorer.

The complementarity and synergy offered by the profitable use of the different integrated tools is clearly shown in this practical exercise.

Underwater survey, compared to land archaeology, needs some specific techniques, because the application of some active 3D sensor, such as laser scanner, is obviously impossible. The necessity to produce three-dimensional survey, offering the same accuracy of classical terrestrial laserscanning or photogrammetric methods, combined with the request of low costs and rapid solutions, led the researchers to test and apply oftentimes image-based techniques.

In the last two years the Ca' Foscari University and University IUAV of Venice are conducting a research on the application of integrated techniques to support underwater metric documentation, comparing them to the manual traditional one. The gained experience (and confirmed by other recently published papers) shows that the actual multiimage digital photogrammetry is a good solution for the underwater archaeology. This approach is useful both from a metric and from a recording point of view, because it achieves high quality results, such as accurate 3D models or 2D representations, offering a complete documentation of underwater sites.

But photogrammetry has to be supported by a topographical survey (to acquire ground control points - GCP) to georeference all the finds in the same reference system. This paper presents the integrated survey of two roman shipwrecks, approaching differently in the GCP’s acquisition just for the different morphological characteristic of the sites. The wrecks’ cargos are huge marble blocks, presenting differences in quantities, layout and depths. Those characteristics determine the choice of the topographic survey.

The results of the survey are two 3D polygonal textured models of the sites, which can be easily used for different analyses and reconstructive hypothesis, opening new possibilities of documentation with both specialists and the wider public. Furthermore, 3D models are the geometric base for 2D orthophoto and cross section extraction.

The paper will illustrate all the phases regarding the survey’s design, acquisition and realization and the data processing to obtain 2D and 3D final representation.

The paper presents an investigation on the correlation between spectral characteristics and conservation conditions of parchment to define a NON invasive methodology able to detect and monitor deterioration process in historical parchment without the need of taking small samples. To verify the feasibility and define the most appropriate measurement method, several samples of contemporary parchments, produced following ancient recipes and coming from different animal species, with different degrees of artificially induced damage, were analyzed. The SRF and STF of each sample were measured in the same point, before and after each step of the artificial ageing treatment. Having at disposal a parchment coming from a whole lamb leather, allowed also the study of the correlations between the variations of SRF – STF and the intrinsic factors of a parchment like the variability of animal skin anatomy and of manufacturing. Analyzing different samples allowed also the definition of the measuring method sensitivity and of reference spectrum for the different animal species parchments with accuracy limits. The definition of a reference spectrum of not damaged parchment with acceptability limits is a necessary step for understanding, through SRF – STF measurements, historical parchments conservation conditions: indeed it is necessary to know if deviations from the reference spectrum are ascribable to damage or only to parchment anatomic/production variability. As a case study, the method has been applied to two historical parchment scrolls stored at the Archivio di Stato di Torino (Italy). The SRF - STF of both scrolls was acquired in several points of the scroll, the average spectrum of each scroll was compared with the reference spectra with the relative tolerance limits, recognizing the animal species and damage alterations and demonstrating the feasibility of the method.

Nowadays hyperspectral imaging is a well-established methodology for the non-invasive diagnostics of polychrome surfaces, and is increasingly utilized in museums and conservation laboratories for documentation purposes and in support of restoration procedures. However, so far the applications of hyperspectral imaging have been mainly limited to easel paintings or paper-based artifacts. Indeed, specifically designed hyperspectral imagers, are usually used for applications in museum context. These devices work at short-distances from the targets and cover limited size surfaces. Instead, almost still unexplored remain the applications of hyperspectral imaging to the investigations of frescoes and large size mural paintings. For this type of artworks a remote sensing approach, based on sensors capable of acquiring hyperspectral data from distances of the order of tens of meters, is needed.

This paper illustrates an application of hyperspectral remote sensing to an important wall-painting by Beato Angelico, located in the San Marco Museum in Florence. Measurements were carried out using a re-adapted version of the Galileo Avionica Multisensor Hyperspectral System (SIM-GA), an avionic hyperspectral imager originally designed for applications from mobile platforms. This system operates in the 400-2500 nm range with over 700 channels, thus guaranteeing acquisition of high resolution hyperspectral data exploitable for materials identification and mapping. In the present application, the SIM-GA device was mounted on a static scanning platform for ground-based applications. The preliminary results obtained on the Angelico’s wall-painting are discussed, with highlights on the main technical issues addressed to optimize the SIM-GA system for new applications on cultural assets.

Because artworks are a major part of our culture their preservation is of great importance and therefore they need to be protected from any damage. But the change of environmental conditions like temperature or humidity leads to internal stress, which can result in different defects like delaminations or cracks. The deteriorations occurring due to ageing or transport are often small and invisible, but they can enlarge and produce new irreversible damages. Therefore it is important to detect small changes in the surface as well as deteriorations under the surface. A combination of fringe projection and shearography data is a very suitable method to fulfill this task. While fringe projection is used to determine the surface structure, the shearography gives information about the strain occurring due to loading, which allows conclusions about weaknesses in the internal structure. We optimized both techniques for the use in the preservation of artwork and combined the resulting data by a mapping process. In this paper we present the advantages and also the limits, which need to overcome.

Environmental impact on artworks has always been a big issues for preservation of Cultural Heritage. Nowadays with the climate change it is experienced a slow but steady process of temperature increase affecting relative humidity which fluctuates while materials attempt to keep moisture balance. During repetitive equilibrium courses fatigue accumulates endangering the structural integrity prior to fracture.

Assessing the risk imposed by the fluctuation allow preventive actions to take place and avoid interventive restoration action after fracture. A methodology is presented employing full-field interferometry by surface probing illumination based on direct realtime recording of surface images from delicate hygroscopic surfaces as they deform to dimensionally respond to relative humidity (RH) changes. The developed methodology aims to develop an early stage risk indicator tool to allow preventive measures directly through surface readings.

The presented study1 aiming to experimentally highlight acclimatisation structural phenomena and to verify assumed standards in RH safety range based on the newly introduced concept of deformation threshold value is described and demonstrated with indicative results.

Optics and optics and photonics based inspection tools and methods had expensively proven their invaluable importance in the preservation of cultural heritage and artwork. The non-invasive inspection of the 3D shape of objects and of the micro-relief structure of its surfaces can be of high importance in the characterization process required in most works of restoration or preservation of archeological artwork. In this communication we will report on the non-invasive optical microtopographic characterization of the surface of pre-colonial ceramics and pottery of hunter-recollector-farmer’ tribes of the Paranaiba valley in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The pottery found is decorated with incisions with different geometric distributions and levels of complexity corresponding to two periods of indigenous Indian occupations: one from a period dated at 1,095 ± 186 years ago and another of the early nineteenth century dated between 212 ± 19 years and 190 ± 30 years ago seemingly corresponding to the occupation of the territory by southern Kayapós tribes.

The diagnosis of hidden painting is a major issue for cultural heritage. In this paper, a non-destructive active infrared thermographic technique was considered to reveal paintings covered by a lime layer. An extended infrared spectral range radiation was used as the excitation source. The external long wave infrared energy source delivered to the surface is then propagated through the material until it encounters a painting zone. Due to several thermal effects, the sample surface then presents non-uniformity patterns. Using a high sensitive infrared camera, the presence of covered pigments can thus be highlighted by the analysis of the non-stationary phenomena. Reconstituted thermal contrast images of mural samples covered by a lime layer are shown.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (LCE) (1472-1553) maintained an organized and highly efficient workshop, served as councilor in Wittenberg from 1519-1544, established a publishing house in 1520, held a pharmacy from 1520, and served as mayor of Wittenberg from 1537 to 1543. He was known as the 'swiftest of painters,' resulting in 1,000 surviving panel paintings, canvas paintings, drawings, and etchings in a career that spanned 53 years (1500-1553). Facing this astoundingly enormous oeuvre, the question that this paper seeks to answer is unavoidable: what was LCE’s involvement in this oeuvre, which most is still attributed to him, in light of his many other time-consuming engagements? To answer this question, this paper becomes a study of stylistic comparisons of LCE’s oeuvre, in order to assess, analyze and identify his style to determine whether all of the works attributed to him were indeed his own handiwork. Classifying LCE's style, together with the fact that he ran his workshop in factory-like conditions, supplying his apprentices with pigments, designs they could trace, copies, modelling versions, and patterns, making him an artist turned businessman, LCE becomes an artist who turned art into an industrial operation, earning the title 'Cranach Inc.' The conclusion of this paper will be based inter-alia on comparisons between Infra-red images and the visible paintings, in order to undermine the established attributions made to LCE.

Laser scanning has been recently confirming its high potential in the field of acquiring 3D data for architectural and engineering objects. The objective of this paper is to analyse the quality of the TLS data acquired for different surfaces of monumental objects, with consideration of distances and the scanning angles. Tests concerning the quality of the survey data and shapes of architectural objects, characterised by diversified curvature, structure and the uniformity of the surface, were performed. The obtained results proved that utilisation of terrestrial laser scanning techniques does not allow to achieve expected accuracy for some historical surfaces and it should be substituted by alternative, photogrammetric techniques. Therefore, the typology of constructions of historical objects is important not only for selection of the optimum technique of surveys, but also for its appropriate utilisation.

The test objects were architectural details of the Main Hall of the Warsaw University of Technology. Scans were acquired using the 5006h scanner. Diversified geometry of scans was tested, and the relations between the distance and obtained accuracy were specified. In the case of numerous conservational works the precise surface reconstruction is often important, in order to specify damages. Therefore, the repeatability of obtained TLS results for selected surfaces was also tested. Different surfaces were analysed, which are composed of different materials having glittery elements and inhomogeneous structure. The obtained results and performed analyses revealed the high imperfections of the TLS technique applied for measuring surfaces of historical objects. The presented accuracy of measurements of projection of historical surfaces, obtained using the TLS technique may be applied by art conservators, museum professionals, archaeologists and other specialists, to perform wide analyses of historical heritage objects.

This paper presents the results of annual measurements of the corrosion progress at test samples of cast iron and carbon steel placed in different natural environments. Comparative tests were performed in two outdoor stations, one at the Railway Museum in central Warsaw and one at the location of a Railway Museum in the small town of Sochaczew, 50 km west of Warsaw. The influence of surface roughness on the development of corrosion was determined by two kinds of treatment of all sample surfaces − metal brush or grinding. Stratigraphy and composition of corrosion products in quarterly periods were analyzed with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman laser spectroscopy. Comparative tests were performed using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) system equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and micro-chemical analytical methods. The corrosion layers on carbon steel have proven to be thicker on average than on cast iron, and thicker on the brushed parts of both materials. Furthermore, a thicker corrosion layer was found on the cast iron test samples exposed in Sochaczew than in Warsaw. Different iron oxides, namely lepidocrocite, goethite, hematite and magnetite were identified in the surface Raman spectra of corrosion layers, the last compound only in the sample from Sochaczew. SEM EDS measurements of surface elemental concentrations showed a higher concentration of sulfur in all samples from Sochaczew. Registered LIBS spectra have been additionally analyzed with statistical approach, using Factorial Analysis (FA). Results generally confirmed conclusions drawn from SEM/Raman/LIBS results.

Recently, several works have been proposed in the literature to take advantage of the diffusion of smartphones to improve people experience during museum visits. The rationale is that of substituting traditional written/audio guides with interactive electronic guides usable on a mobile phone. Augmented reality systems are usually considered to make the use of such electronic guides more effective for the user.

The main goal of such augmented reality system (i.e. providing the user with the information of his/her interest) is usually achieved by properly executing the following three tasks: recognizing the object of interest to the user, retrieving the most relevant information about it, properly presenting the retrieved information.

This paper focuses on the first task: we consider the problem of painting recognition by means of measure- ments provided by a smartphone. We assume that the user acquires one image of the painting of interest with the standard camera of the device. This image is compared with a set of reference images of the museum objects in order to recognize the object of interest to the user. Since comparing images taken in different conditions can lead to unsatisfactory recognition results, the acquired image is typically properly transformed in order to improve the results of the recognition system: first, the system estimates the homography between properly matched features in the two images. Then, the user image is transformed accordingly to the estimated homography. Finally, it is compared with the reference one.

This work proposes a novel method to exploit inertial measurement unit (IMU) measurements to improve the system performance, in particular in terms of computational load reduction: IMU measurements are exploited to reduce both the computational burden required to estimate the transformation to be applied to the user image, and the number of reference images to be compared with it.

Near-Infrared (NIR) reflectography is a well-established technique for painting diagnostics, offering a fundamental contribution to the conservation of paintings. Since the '80s it has been routinely applied to study the execution technique of the author, as well as the presence of pentimenti, retouches, integrations or underdrawing. In the last decades IR reflectography has been extended to the visible (VIS) spectral range, providing information about the pigment composition. Up to now the multispectral analysis is still applied at an experimental level, as the processing of the image set is not straightforward.

Rarely multispectral VIS-IR application has been applied to frescos, probably due to the lack, in most cases, of a scattering background.

In this work we present the results provided by a multispectral scanning device based on single sensor acquisition, working in the 380-2500 nm spectral range, that is a laboratory prototype specifically built for research-grade imaging. The technique have been applied on a mock up simulating a mural painting substrate where an underdrawing, made of either carbon or iron-gall ink, was covered by different surface layers of limewash, the so-called scialbo.