Fig 3 - uploaded by Karen French
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Investigation of a fifteenth-century German altarpiece cycle in the Walters Art Museum reveals a complicated painting technique. A large studio produced the series, oftentimes using incompatible materials and application methods that caused a deterioration pattern, exhibited to some degree on all eight panels. Since entering the museum in the 1930s...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... is likely that other incision work, such as architectural lines and outlines in the design, were carried out at the same time as the tooling. Again, there is evidence that the planning of these panels was somewhat inexact and that the gilding and patterning was probably undertaken by someone other than the painter. Incised lines indicating the location of the gilding can be found in the gesso, however, Examination of the Walters' panels with infrared light reveals fairly extensive drawing beneath the paint layer. In fact, on some panels, underdrawing can be seen with the naked eye through the now aged and more transparent paint layers. The quality of the drawing varies as well as the type of mark, indicating that it may have been sketched by at least two hands and with different tools. The heavier, more confident lines were most likely applied with a brush, since they were open most of the time, the inner panels were painted by a Master painter, the exterior by a member of Original structure in gilded area The colors for painting were produced from powder or lumps of pigment, both organic and inorganic. These were generally prepared in the artists' studio by grinding on a rough stone followed by mixing with a binder on a smooth stone such as porphyry. Before entering the Walters, all panels had received major restoration treatments on both the reverse wooden supports and the front painted and gilded images. It is not known when, where, or by whom the treatments were carried out, but, based on the materials and techniques of restoration, it seems likely that conservation took place in Europe rather than America. Early restoration of the gilded surfaces was just as dramatic. The background gilding (gold and silver leaf) was seriously over-restored in all panels, though carried out differently on various scenes. On The Flagellation, the top left and right corners were painted with scroll designs in black and gray paint to simulate trelliswork, echoing the designs on the frames. In three {The Entombment, The Flagellation, and Christ Crowned with Thorns), the carefully carved and gilded fabric design was filled with gesso to form a flat surface on which a blue sky was painted, most likely in an attempt to make the background space appear more realistic. Later (before entering the museum), the other five panels received undercoats of a reddish-brown layer and several coats of modern "radiator" paint to hide the many losses in the original gold leaf. The three panels that had received a simulated sky then had several layers of gold paint applied so that all eight panels would have gold backgrounds once again ( fig. ...
Context 2
... is likely that other incision work, such as architectural lines and outlines in the design, were carried out at the same time as the tooling. Again, there is evidence that the planning of these panels was somewhat inexact and that the gilding and patterning was probably undertaken by someone other than the painter. Incised lines indicating the location of the gilding can be found in the gesso, however, Examination of the Walters' panels with infrared light reveals fairly extensive drawing beneath the paint layer. In fact, on some panels, underdrawing can be seen with the naked eye through the now aged and more transparent paint layers. The quality of the drawing varies as well as the type of mark, indicating that it may have been sketched by at least two hands and with different tools. The heavier, more confident lines were most likely applied with a brush, since they were open most of the time, the inner panels were painted by a Master painter, the exterior by a member of Original structure in gilded area The colors for painting were produced from powder or lumps of pigment, both organic and inorganic. These were generally prepared in the artists' studio by grinding on a rough stone followed by mixing with a binder on a smooth stone such as porphyry. Before entering the Walters, all panels had received major restoration treatments on both the reverse wooden supports and the front painted and gilded images. It is not known when, where, or by whom the treatments were carried out, but, based on the materials and techniques of restoration, it seems likely that conservation took place in Europe rather than America. Early restoration of the gilded surfaces was just as dramatic. The background gilding (gold and silver leaf) was seriously over-restored in all panels, though carried out differently on various scenes. On The Flagellation, the top left and right corners were painted with scroll designs in black and gray paint to simulate trelliswork, echoing the designs on the frames. In three {The Entombment, The Flagellation, and Christ Crowned with Thorns), the carefully carved and gilded fabric design was filled with gesso to form a flat surface on which a blue sky was painted, most likely in an attempt to make the background space appear more realistic. Later (before entering the museum), the other five panels received undercoats of a reddish-brown layer and several coats of modern "radiator" paint to hide the many losses in the original gold leaf. The three panels that had received a simulated sky then had several layers of gold paint applied so that all eight panels would have gold backgrounds once again ( fig. ...
