San Vittorio Church

Conservation assessment was carried out on an early 15th-century Gothic Crucifixion fresco at San Vittorio Church in Ticino, Switzerland. The fresco is executed with pigments including lapis lazuli and features areas of gilding. It had suffered severe fragmentation as a result of past whitewashing campaigns and deliberate hammering of the surface.

A comprehensive programme of scientific analysis was undertaken to characterise the materials and extent of damage. Diagnostic tools included a Dino-Lite digital microscope and Zeiss Axioskope for surface and cross-section examination, alongside multispectral imaging, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to identify pigments, binding media, and later interventions.

The findings established a detailed understanding of the painting's material history and informed recommendations for the stabilisation and long-term preservation of the surviving paint and plaster layers. Technical drawings of the site are to be published separately.