Non-Destructive XRF and Raman Spectroscopy Analysis in Pigment Identification of a Wall Painting of the Painter Nikiforos Lytras from the Chapel of Agios Georgios, Haidari, Athens

The church of Agios Georgios which is dated in 16th century by the post-byzantine wall painting of Humiliation at the niche of Intention in the Sanctuary that is dated in that period, is famous for the wall paintings which decorate multiple points of the church’s interior. All these wall paintings are dated in the second half of 19th century and two of them were painted with certainty by the painter Nikiforos Lytras maybe in collaboration with Nikolaos Gyzis [1], while the rest of them are probably works of the same artist too. It is about the two wall paintings of Nikiforos Lytras which are situated in the north and the south wall with representations of the Beheading of John the Baptist and Saint George on horseback killing the dragon, three wall paintings situated in the iconostasion of the temple with representations of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and Saint Paraskevi and the wall painting of the niche of the sanctuary with the representation of Platytera (Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ child with hands in a pleading position) which probably is painted by the painter Nikiforos Lytras maybe in collaboration with the painter Nikolaos Gyzis [2]. The present study is focused on the wall painting of Platytera at the niche of the sanctuary of the church of Agios Georgios (19th century) and is part of doctoral thesis with subject ‘‘Application of non- destructive spectroscopic techniques for pigments identification and reconstruction of the colour pallet in Nikiforos Lytras and Nikolaos Gyzis paintings’’. For the purpose of this study were carried out in-situ measurements using non-destructive pXRF and pRaman spectroscopic techniques in order to identify the pigments. The results of this study which are extracted based on the collaboration of the two techniques, are of high importance since they are compared with pigments of that period and pigments of other paintings of the same painter in order to fruitful conclusions are drawn as to whether the work was created by Nikiforos Lytras in collaboration with Nikolaos Gyzis, as reported, or not.