MEDIEVAL PAINTING ON PARCHMENT - TECHNIQUE, PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION

Different materials and sometimes opposite methods of Byzantine and Western miniaturists provoke different kinds of mutilation in the paint layer. The author analyses the mechanisms of these destructions and indicates the necessary conditions for treatment. She explains the inefficiency and sometimes impossibility of using natural materials for the treatment of painting on parchment. The Moscow Institute for Restoration and the newly organized Department for Conservation of Manuscripts in the Grabar Conservation Center have good experience with synthetic materials.