reflectography en · NOUN
Etymology
From reflect + -o- + -graphy.
Meanings
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(uncountable) 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.
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.
2008 June 8, J. D. Biersdorfer, “What Lies Beneath Can Tell Another Tale”, in New York Times: