Reflectography
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An infrared technique used by art historians to detect layers beneath the top surface of a painting and thus determine whether it is an original. uncountable
"IF a picture is worth the proverbial thousand words, taking a peek under the paint using infrared reflectography surely adds a few thousand more — especially when it comes to a work as detailed as the enormous 15th-century altarpiece from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Ascension in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain."
Example
More examples"IF a picture is worth the proverbial thousand words, taking a peek under the paint using infrared reflectography surely adds a few thousand more — especially when it comes to a work as detailed as the enormous 15th-century altarpiece from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Ascension in Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain."
Etymology
From reflect + -o- + -graphy.
Related phrases
More for "reflectography"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.