Skriptsio

In the Middle Ages, parchment was expensive. When a text was no longer needed, it was scraped off and the page was used again. The earlier text was considered gone.

It was not entirely gone. In some manuscripts it has since been read again. One of them contained the works of Archimedes, which had been scraped off to make room for a book of prayers.

The earlier text is called scriptio inferior. The later one is called scriptio superior. The later one is the one being looked at.

The artist follows the same procedure. Each painting is made on top of another painting. The earlier painting is not removed. It is not visible, except where it is.

Spelled as pronounced.