Multispectral imaging and spectroscopic analysis to study the exterior decoration of the Baptistery of the Cathedral of Padova

The Baptistery of the Cathedral, today part of the UNESCO World Heritage List for Padova's 14th-century fresco cycles, is renowned for the interior fresco cycle made by Giusto de' Menabuoi, which has been extensively studied. However, the only data available on the main exterior decoration is today confined to the frescoes and sinopias detached in the first half of the last century from the Baptistery's façade and now displayed on panels at the Diocesan Museum, and the few pigment traces still in situ on the exterior walls. Therefore, the present study aims at a new, in-depth analysis of these pictorial fragments, in an attempt to recover, through the use of portable, non-invasive techniques (multispectral imaging, FORS), their legibility, today heavily compromised. In addition, it intends to study their state of deterioration and their characteristics, comparing them with the interior paintings, with the aim of providing new data useful for their contextualisation and for potential future restoration and valorisation.