A technical examination of a seventeenth-century polychrome sculpture of St Gines de la Jara by Luisa Roldan

A seventeenth-century sculpture of St Gines de la Jara by Louisa Roldan was technically examined and compared with Francisco Pacheco's seventh-century treatise 'Arte de la Pintura'. The sculpture was found to follow closely b ut not exactly the recommended practice of polychrome sculpture manufacture . The individual artist's practice was revealed after analysis by cross-sec tion, polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy with e nergy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS) and gas chromatography-mass spect rometry (GC-MS).