Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

medium, although the degree of miner-
alization and the present condition of the
mural precludes a determination as to
whether this technique, considered as
traditional in the area ever since antiquity,
had actually been applied here.
The color palette was limited to iron
oxides (red and yellow ochre) and black
(mixed ivory and vegetal black) with the
light background being considered as a sep-
arate color. Today the paint layer may give
the impression of transparency, but

originally it must have been thicker and
stronger. The composition was sketched
“freehand” without earlier preparation.
The Christ painting had been cleaned
and consolidated previously.4^ This year
the retouching was done in watercolor
technique by a method called aqua sporca
with lights and diluted colors attempting to
give more legibility to the original paint
layer. Reconstruction was kept at a mini-
mum as the main part of the composition
was better preserved.

REPRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD


Fig. 1. The Virgin-and-Childpainting
reinstalled in the church narthex
(Photo C. Calaforra-Rzepka)

The final aesthetical arrangement of the
transferred representation of the Virgin
and Child, which had been postponed from
the last season, was now the chief
objective. The procedure of retouching was
done in the same watercolor technique as
in the case of the earlier layer of painting.
In view of the fact that the church
continues to be in use and is heavily visited
by pilgrims, not to mention scholars, it
was deemed appropriate to reconstruct
parts of the missing composition in order
to make the whole entirely more legible.
The smaller gaps were first filled with
local color lighter than the original, tracing
lines and shapes that had not been legible
at the beginning of the work. This was
followed by a partial reconstruction of the
basic shapes, such as ovals of heads and
haloes, hands, and the outline of the throne.
The reconstructed lines were blurred to
suggest the shape, but without any details,
which can be discerned only on the original
parts (Fig. 2).
As a final step, the transferred picture
was screwed onto the south wall of the
narthex, beside other paintings from the

4) Cf. Calaforra-Rzepka, op. cit., 174.

186