According to the epoch and place, the artists use the same pigments to paint the faces but change their techniques and the binders, which modify the visual appearances (color, gloss) of the works of art. Various techniques (encaustic, tempera, oil, synthetic binder) are investigated on model samples containing the same pigments but different binders and on a old painting. The influence of the techniques on the visual rendering is investigated experimentally. Goniophotometry and optical coherent tomography are used to determine the surface state, the gloss and the surface scattering. The spectrometry in the visible range allows to characterize the bulk scattering by determining the absorption and scattering coefficients of the pigments according to the binders. A particular oil technique, the art glaze is also studied on a real painting.