MAPPING OF THE SURFACES AND NON-INVASIVE ANALYSES

Mapping is a tool based on graphic representation for acquiring knowledge of the state of conservation of pictorial and mosaic surfaces. By means of specific graphic norms, it indicates the types and shapes of decay of an artefact. It is a necessary preliminary step in any restoration project and serves to localise all forms of damage. Decay is basically attributable to four main causes: exogenous agents, including meteorological, thermohygrometric and biological factors such as water, wind, heat, frost, humidity and bacteria, which cause alterations of a chemical, physical and biological nature, with damage to the artefact of various kinds and varying degrees of severity; endogenous agents, i.e. forces, substances and organisms that act inside the constituent materials of the works; biotic agents, associated with the action of living organisms that act from the outside towards the inside of the artefact such as insects, fungi, bacteria etc.; and anthropic actions, including factors linked to direct human intervention, such as previous restorations, scratches, vandalism, hammering of the surface in preparation for a new layer of plaster, etc.) on the materials of the artefact1.