The Brinkmanns' illuminating work spans over four decades and involves a wide array of orthodox and innovative techniques of material analysis applied to the field of ancient polychromy studies. Some of the techniques used for the reconstruction of these painted sculptures included familiar techniques such as 3D imaging, multispectral photography and X-ray diffraction. However, fascinatingly, the work also necessitated the development of novel scientific methods such asultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, which is a way to measure the amount of discrete wavelengths of UV or visible light that are absorbed by or transmitted through a sample in comparison to a reference or blank sample.
Since the early 1980s, Vinzenz Brinkmann has examined numerous Archaic-period marble sphinxes in Greek museums—including the Acropolis Museum of Athens, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and the Corinth Archaeological Museum—with the help of multispectral photography, microscopy, and raking light, as part of a larger research project. In addition, the Liebieghaus team also investigated representations of the sphinx in other visual media dating to the sixth century B.C. This extensive analysis of archaeological and art-historical comparanda offered a significant data pool that complemented the scientific and photo-technical examinations of the original, enabling a more complete reconstruction.