Technical analysis

Pigments: white lime (calcite), yellow earth, red earth (haematite), organic black, cinnabar, lead white or red (degradation to platernite)

Analytical techniques: OM, Raman, XRD

The plaster is made of lime and sand. To the naked eye, it looks very dark and grey. It is exceedingly brittle and crumbles easily. The cross-sections also reveal plaster saturated with sand of various granulations and colours. The XRD chemical analysis confirms the brittleness of the plaster, which contains a modest amount of binder (calcite, possibly partly dolomite) while it is rich in aggregate (dolomite, quartz). Apart from that, it also contains a significant amount of feldspars (kaolintie, illite/muscovite), indicating poorly washed sand. The plaster from the window splays looks brigther to the eye, while XRD analysis discovered higher amount of dolomite and less quartz as in the plaster from the northern wall. Broad strokes of a white colour layer can be seen underneath the other colour layers on both chancel walls. It is most clearly distinguishable on the inner wall of the triumphal arch, for example on the left side of the lower figure, as well as on the face of the figure on the southern chancel wall between the two windows. Also on all samples , there is a thin white layer between the plaster and the colour layer, confirming the use of limewash (Fig. 1, 2). Furthermore, the red colour just above the door to the sacristy is painted on two layers of plaster and a layer of limewash: the lower plaster is coarser, while the top layer consists of a finer plaster and it is also thinner, which is clearly evident under UV light (Fig. 3). This part of the painting can therefore be distinguished from the rest of the mural on the northern wall and was probably painted later.

The murals were mostly painted with natural, inorganic pigments – earth and minerals – while Raman spectroscopy has also revealed the presence of a certain lead pigment. The painter’s palette consists of white lime (calcite), yellow and red earth (haematite, Figs 1–2), and an unidentified organic black pigment. For some of the saints’ draperies, the painter used cinnabar and a lead pigment, which has darkened due to its degradation to platernite; originally, lead white or lead red (minium) could have been used. The use of lead pigments is also indicated by some darkened parts of the painting, such as the drapery of the figure in the first window splay in the southern nave. The binder is inorganic, i.e. lime. For the thicker layers of colour, some organic binders might have been added.

The clear layer of limewash under the colour layers on all the samples indicates that the mural was painted using the lime technique. The colour layers were applied directly to the fresh limewash, which is clearly distinguishable in the cross-sections (Figs 1–3). The colour layers on all samples are thin, with a thicker layer found only on the sample of the drapery belonging to the figure in the window splay (Fig. 3).

The mural has been poorly preserved, and the painting process is difficult to discern. The northern wall reveals thin horizontal and parallel incisions; these may indicate the division of the areas for the figures, or the incisions may have resulted from the stripping of the upper layers as part of some earlier restoration works (Fig. 4). Given that the mural was painted using the lime technique, no other incisions are expected, as the plaster was most likely dry already before the limewash was applied. On the inner triumphal arch wall, the drapery of the female saint on the top band of the northern side features red drapery lines under the final black contour, indicating the possible use of a red underdrawing (Fig. 5). A thin, slightly semicircular red line can also be found on the fragment of the figure on the southern wall between the triumphal arch and the window (Fig. 6). Throughout the mural, only the basic colour surfaces have mostly been preserved, applied with broad brushstrokes and with no underpaintings to speak of. Moreover, most of the modelling has peeled off, and there are no fine transitions between the hues anywhere. The figures are portrayed in half profile, with round faces and high foreheads. The lines of the face have only been preserved in the case of the lower figure on the northern side of the triumphal arch. We can also discern semicircular eyebrows drawn in a thin black line, with the inner eyebrow continuing into an upturned nose. The eyes are large and feature black pupils (Fig. 7). The figures on the triumphal arch and the northern wall are completed with a broad reddish-brown contour, which separates them from the figures in the window splay, which are finished with a broad grey contour (Fig. 8). The colour layers in the window splays are also stronger and better preserved. This suggests at least another painter, though perhaps working for the same workshop.

Gallery

Virtual 360° view

Poljana, Succursal church of St John the Baptist, Stage 1 (Poljana), 2024 (last updated 6. 9. 2024). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/poslikava/phase-1-poljana/ (9. 7. 2025).