La collection de relevés de peintures murales de la Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine sous l’œil de la commission des monuments historiques

Ludovic Vitet and Prosper Mérimée insisted on the importance of colour and consequently the Board of Historic Monuments was from the start concerned with the surveying of mural paintings or painted panels; therefore, artists, architects and restorers were commissioned to keep record of those artefacts. What was the role of the Board in relation to these commissions as they appear in the minutes of the Board ? The surveys of XVIIth century painted paneling (in the Lambert Hotel, Galerie Mazarine and in the National Library in Paris), roused an utmost interest; concerning other centuries, the Board made a more critical assessment. In 1942, the committee of the Board of Historic Monuments was also interested in the surveying of painted caves, those at Lascaux in particular, showing thus that its members were not only interested in Xth-XVIth centuries artworks. Can these surveys, that are considered as unique at the beginning of the XXth century, be exhibited abroad? During World War I, they became weapons of political propaganda.The commissioning of surveys has lasted till nowadays. The emphasis on details in surveys often ended up in the creation of a work of art far from the original; sometimes, some surveys have even imagined wainscoting that never existed. The Department of Historic Monuments also relies on photography and restoration reports to keep record of these painted panels.