“Grisaille reconstitution” as a colourless visible retouching method: the case of Les Puys d’Amiens, a set of paintings dating from the 16th century

Abstract

An innovative visible retouching method was successfully attempted on a set of seven paintings, the Puys d’Amiens, amongst which three of them presented large losses. The challenge was to find a retouching solution that would enable presenting all seven paintings together, improve understanding of the damaged paintings while maintaining discernibility of the retouching. After several digital simulations, the most promising ones were attempted on the loss of the Puy 1518. Based on archives, the agreed solution was baptised “grisaille reconstitution” and consists in reconstituting figures, outlines and values of the original painting whilst purposely omitting multi-colour restitution. This method has been carried out onto the three damaged paintings.

Keywords

• grisaille
• reconstruction
• discernible retouching