Technical study of Germolles’ wall paintings: the input of imaging technique

The Château de Germollesis one of the rare palacesin France dating from the 14thcentury. The noble floor is decoratedwith wall paintingsthat are a unique example of courtly love spirit that infusedthe princely courts of the time.After being concealed sometime in the 19thcentury, the paintingswere rediscovered and uncovered in the middle of the 20thcentury and partly restored at the end of the 1990s. No scientific documentation accompanied these interventionsand important questions, such as the level of authenticity of the mural decorations and the original painting technique(s) used in the medieval timesremained unanswered. The combined scientific and financial supports of COSCH Cost Action and DRAC-Burgundy enabled to studyGermolles’wall paintings using some of the mostinnovative imaging and analytical techniques and to addresssome of the questions raised. The study provided significant information on the material used in the medieval times and on the conservation conditionof the paintings. The data collected is vast and variedand exposed the owners of the propertytothe challenges of data management.