A Technical Examination of a Seventeenth-Century Polychrome Sculpture of St Gines de laLaraby Luisa Roldan

A seventeenth-century sculpture of St Ginés de la lara by Louisa Roldán was technically examined and compared with Francisco Pacheco's seventeenth-century treatise 'Arte de la Pintura'. The sculpture was found to follow closely but not exactly the recommended practice of polychrome sculpture manufacture. The individual artist's practice was revealed after analysis by cross-section, polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS) and gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS).