Modern lab recreating ancient pigments

TRAPANI, Italy, June 7 (UPI) -- Ancient colors of Egyptian wall paintings are being recreated in a modern lab in Italy, where art restorers say they've learned how to preserve the artifacts.

Trapani, Italy-based conservation lab ISAD gained permission from Egyptian authorities to examine bits of the wall paintings to learn more about their origins and perhaps develop an answer about why their colors were fading, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Thursday.

"Up till now people thought the frescoes were made from earth colors, which is why the results (of conservation efforts) have been so disappointing," said ISAD's Giuseppe Claudio Infranca.

They found, however, the paintings' pigments were from a variety of minerals that restorers are trying to recreate.

"For the first time ever, the colors of Egyptian wall paintings will be reproduced in the laboratory," Infranca said, explaining that National Research Council's inorganic surface chemistry lab in Padua will actually reconstruct the colors.

Restorers eventually will go to Egypt to begin applying the pigments to the walls of tombs of leaders such as Tutankhamen, Ramses and Nefertiti.