Discussion

’50 shades of blue’.

Physical Reality and Psychological Perception in Medieval Mural Paintings

Contributor: Floréal Daniel

Institute of Archaeomaterials Research

Research Centre for Applied Physics in Archaeology (CRP2A)

In this Discussion,the context will be given that led to the multidisciplinary project (psychology, archaeometry) ‘The Virgin’s Blue Coat’, which subscribes to an ‘art and vision’ theme at the heart of current applications in the cognitive sciences and aims to study perceptive illusions manifest in certain Medieval mural paintings, propose different perceptive mechanisms and highlight the influence of higher-level variables, whether cognitive, developmental or social.

Some examples of these coloured illusions in various Medieval mural paintings of the Aquitaine region have raised questions both in terms archaeology and psychology.

In terms of archaeology and art history, it examines the use of colour during the Medieval era. Moreover, experiments on perception first require the acquisition of images of paintings or coloured ranges, to reproduce them as faithfully as possible and consequently take into account related problems, for example the alteration of pigments and the influence of sources of light.

In terms of psychology, the ancient use, and in varied semantic contexts, notably, of the illusion of simultaneous contrast puts into question, from the point of view of the observer, the automatic character of the perceptive and cognitive processes of the categorisation of colour, and provides rich investigatory material.

http://prezi.com/vkrumnsmaven/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

By Poinsot A., Cherblanc F., Bromblet Ph., Bagnéris M. and Mercurio V.

25 June 2015 at 1.30 p.m.

The Alba Museum’s (MuséAl) collection includes a monumental truncated male statue in white marble, discovered in 1992 in the cella of the axial temple of the Bagnols sanctuary. Dated to the end of the 1st century/beginning of the 2nd century AD, it certainly represents a heroised emperor. It will become the centrepiece of the museum collection.

However, the base of this fractured statue means that complex technical and aesthetic constraints must be taken into account. An in-depth and multidisciplinary study (conservator, conservator/restorer, archaeologist, historian, scientists from the CICRP and MAP/Gamsau) has thus been launched under the aegis of Aude Poinsot, director of the museum, integrating a detailed condition report, the critical review of the existing mounting solutions, of measurement of the speed of sound coupled with 3D modeling by photogrammetry and mechanical behaviour simulations.

Several mounting scenarios have been tested using models.

The whole study will be presented in the course of the Discussion.

Register at: info@cicrp.fr 

Discussion

Louis XIV Visiting the Gobelins Factory

Contributor: Jean Fouace, chief conservator of cultural heritage, head of the CICRP’s scientific department

The history of the Mobilier National and the Manufactures Nationales of the Gobelins, the Savonnerie and Beauvais are inextricably linked. Each of these structures has served to furnish the halls of power under different regimes since Louis XIV. Under the Fifth Republic the institution, even if its function has evolved, remains the true Furniture Warehouse of the Nation.

In the course of this Discussion, the history and the functions of the institution as well as the wealth of its collections will be touched on.

Since the number of places is limited, please confirm your attendance by email to the following address: info@cicrp.fr

CICRP – 21, rue Guibal – 13003 Marseille