Starting from a bibliography on the question of pigment analysis in ancient mural paintings, this article intends to investigate the results achieved though all the analyses conducted in the field over since the 19th century. A summary is provided for each colour -white, black, yellow, red, green, blue- and then technical applications are being considered. Eventually few things have been learnt from these analyses : on the one hand because the material used for a given colour are little varied (ochre, terra verde and egyptian blue predominate) ;on the other hand because the questions raised from an archaeological viewpoint are hard to solve as far as physico-chemical analysis-provenience, natural or artificial material-is concerned. Given the final outcome of this research, it would be particuliarly interesting at this point either to know local variations and chronological changes or study a restricted collection of paintings more exhaustively.
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Michel Frizot (1982) studied this question.