Möller, Hans-Herbert [Hrsg.]; Institut für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]; Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]: Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen: Schäden an Wandmalereien und ihre Ursachen: ein Forschungsprojekt des Bundesministers für Forschung und Technologie; aktuelle Vorberichte zu den ersten interdisziplinären Befunden ([Hannover]: Inst. für Denkmalpflege, Heft 8.1990)

Summary
In Germany nearly all medieval mural paintings are preserved
in fragments or restored pieces. The best means of documen-
tation is colour photography but beyond that, it seems to be
useful to make the state of conservation evident by graphical
diagrams to avoid errors which may appear by exclusively
studying the photographs (lacks, retouching, losses of top
paint layers, alterations of colours). Our proposals are not
meant to replace the detailed drawings used by restorers and
scientists for their special purposes but they should give the
observer (art historian) a rough idea which part is preserved

in the original state and how much it is deteriorated ("graphic
inventory“). Only four degrees of damage have been defined
and issued in a simple scale of grey tones: from total loss
(black) to satisfactory state of conservation (white) or vice
versa. The result is an optical relief of light to dark tones. A
statistical quantification of deterioration can be achieved by
using a pattern of chequer or computerised image processing.
Graphics as the ones proposed (or more advanced ones)
should appear in any future atlas or corpus of medieval mural
paintings.

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