Project sheds new light on 700-year-old paintings

RESTORERS using ultraviolet rays have rediscovered rich original details of Giotto's paintings in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence's Santa Croce church that have been hidden for centuries.

More than a dozen researchers last year began an ambitious project of "non-invasive diagnostics" to ascertain the condition of the 12-metre-high chapel, which was painted in about 1320.

During the project, restorers working on three storeys of scaffolding noted while viewing the paintings under ultraviolet light that they were able see amazing details invisible to the naked eye.

Cecilia Frosinini, co-ordinator of the project that studied scenes in the lives of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, said: "It was something really astonishing. "We knew we could get some very interesting results from our scientific diagnostics but when we looked under ultra-violet light, all of a sudden all these very faint paintings that were ruined by old restorations took on a new life."

Giotto's paintings in the lance-shaped chapel are believed to have had a major influence on Michelangelo, who was born nearly 140 years after Giotto died.