Reviews the physical phenomenon of light and color perception by the human eye and explores the possibilities of taking, storing, and reading the codified information on image elements (pixels) obtained by electronic or optic scanning techniques. Subsequently discusses how this information may be manipulated to aid in setting up an objective methodology for the stabilizing treatment of damaged, important paintings. An experiment conducted at the IBM Scientific Center of Rome in collaboration with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and Laboratori di Restauro of Florence is reported. The method known as chromatic selection and abstraction was applied to the restoration of Cimabue's * 2Crucifix*1 (Florence) seriously damaged by the 1966 flood. The aim was to eliminate all subjective decisions regarding the color treatment of the missing areas, whose function was to provide a connective medium to the eye rather than act as a disturbing element. A medium value based on all recorded pixels was calculated and the resulting neutral tone used to fill in lacunae. A quantitative analysis of the information obtained from a digitized photograph of the <i>Crucifix</i> after restoration using IBM system 7350 was carried out; the results were used in a simulated restoration; the problems encountered and currently under study are discussed, the main one being posed by the presence of a visible transition zone on the borders of the filled-in lacunae. -- AATA