Fragments of Wall Painting from Ostia: the Approach to Diagnostic and Archaeometric Studies.

The study and the knowledge of the original materials, the techniques and the executive procedures are essential prerequisites for the evaluation of this type of artwork, for its geo-chronological collocation, the possible attribution, and, not less important, for the identification of the ongoing degradation phenomena. The knowledge of the materials of the artwork and its state of conservation is also at the basis of a correct and conscious restoration intervention. In the framework of the collaboration set up between the Centre d'Étude des Mondes Antiques of the Université catholique de Louvain (CEMA), the Centro Studi Pittura Romana Ostiense (CeSPRO) and the Istituto per la Conservazione e la Valorizzazione dei Beni Culturali of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Florence (ICVBC), as part of the FPO Project (Fragmentary Paintings of Ostia), ICVBC examined a series of fragments from different contexts of the city, in order to identify the raw materials used and understand the execution techniques. In this paper the protocol applied to the set of fragments will be described and discussed with particular attention to the techniques employed.