Infrared Imaging Techniques for Cultural Heritage

The study of cultural heritage by images produced by infrared radiation has recently given a major impulse to their understanding in different areas of interest. Infrared imaging has made it possible to reconstruct the manufacturing processes of artefacts, to reveal aspects of their conservation history, and to enhance their value by enabling their virtual fruition through 2D and 3D digital reproductions, which have made them easily accessible to a wide public, including non-specialists. The spectrum of artifacts studied with infrared imaging, once essentially relegated to paintings, is now extended to artifacts of a radically different nature, such as statues and books. In this regard, case studies of some art-history masterpieces belonging to specific categories of artefacts like those of bronzes, paintings and illuminated manuscripts, representative of a broad spectrum of cultural heritage, are presented in this workshop.