Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio - The Getty

241 Pages·2011·8.97 MB·English

Historical Painting Techniques,

Materials, and Studio Practice
PUBLICATIONS COORDINATION: Dinah Berland

EDITING & PRODUCTION COORDINATION: Corinne Lightweaver

EDITORIAL CONSULTATION: Jo Hill

COVER DESIGN: Jackie Gallagher-Lange

PRODUCTION & PRINTING: Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas

SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS:

Erma Hermens, Art History Institute of the University of Leiden

Marja Peek, Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science,

Amsterdam

© 1995 by The J. Paul Getty Trust

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 0-89236-322-3

The Getty Conservation Institute is committed to the preservation of

cultural heritage worldwide. The Institute seeks to advance scientiRc

knowledge and professional practice and to raise public awareness of

conservation. Through research, training, documentation, exchange of

information, and ReId projects, the Institute addresses issues related to

the conservation of museum objects and archival collections,

archaeological monuments and sites, and historic bUildings and cities.

The Institute is an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

COVER ILLUSTRATION

Gherardo Cibo, "Colchico," folio 17r of Herbarium, ca. 1570. Courtesy

of the British Library.

FRONTISPIECE

Detail from Jan Baptiste Collaert, Color Olivi, 1566-1628. After

Johannes Stradanus. Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum-Stichting,

Amsterdam.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Historical painting techniques, materials, and studio practice :

preprints of a symposium [held at] University of Leiden, the

Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995/ edited by Arie Wallert, Erma

Hermens, and Marja Peek.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-89236-322-3 (pbk.)

1. Painting-Techniques-Congresses.

-Congresses. 3. Polychromy-Congresses.

1950- II. Hermens, Erma, 1958-

ND1500.H57

2. Artists' materials-

I. Wallert, Arie,

. III. Peek, Marja, 1961-

1995

751' .09-dc20

95-9805

CIP

Second printing 1996

iv
135

Molly Faries, Christa Steinbuchel, and J. R. J. van Asperen de

Boer, Maarten van Heemskerck and Jan van Scorel's Haarlem
Workshop

140 E. Melanie Gifford, Style and Technique in Dutch Landscape
Painting in the 1620s
148 J¢rgen Wadum, Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) and His Use of
Perspective
155 Ilze Poriete, Dace Choldere, A Technical Study of the Materials
and Methods Used by the Painters of the Latvian Churches in the
Seventeenth Century

158

Melissa R. Katz,

William Holman Hunt and the «Pre-Raphaelite

Technique"

166

Jo Kirby, Ashok Roy,

Paul Delaroche: A Case Study of Academic

Painting

176

Joyce H. Townsend,

and

Painting Techniques and Materials of Turner
Other British Artists 1775-1875

186 Stephen Hackney, Art for Art's Sake: The Materials and
Techniques of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
191 John R. Gayer, Painting on a Photographic Substrate: Notes
Regarding Materials and Techniques over the Past 100 Years
196 Ernst van de Wetering, Reflections on the Relation between
Technique and Style: The Use of the Palette by the SeventeenthCentury Painter
204 Index of Contributors

vi
Preface

This volume of preprints, prepared for an international symposium on

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice at the Uni­

versity of Leiden, the Netherlands, 26-29 June 1995, contains the results

of work on historical painting techniques from all parts of the world. The

suggestion to organize such a meeting was raised during the symposium

on the Technology of Art Works from the Central European Region or­

ganized by the Archives of Art Technology in Prague in 1993. The Prague

symposium emphasized Czech painters and their techniques. To broaden

the scope of attention, Erma Hermens of the Art History Institute of the

University of Leiden and Marja Peek of the Art Historical Department of

the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Am­

sterdam took on the task of organizing a second meeting in Leiden.

The purpose of the symposium and this publication is to promote a

greater understanding of the changing boundaries and interaction between

art historians, conservators, and conservation scientists working in the fields

of historical painting techniques-including wall paintings and poly­

chrome sculpture-painting materials, and studio practice.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in historical paint­

ing techniques. The study of the painting techniques and materials used

throughout history and in various cultures is by nature an interdisciplinary

exercise. In the past such studies were sometimes conducted with little

interaction between art historians, conservators, materials scientists, and

historians of science, because each discipline tends to present the results

of its studies to different forums. This volume aims to present different

approaches to the study of historical painting techniques in the hope that

it will encourage cooperation among these various disciplines.

Information about painting techniques can be gained in a variety of

ways, including the chemical or physical analyses of the materials found

in the paintings. Analyses of a large number of paintings attributed to

certain regions, schools, workshops, or individual masters can contribute

to a history of painting techniques. Analytical results can also help art

historians assess attributions and can support or reject their hypotheses.

The analysts, however, need the art historians to inform them about the

stylistic idiosyncrasies and significance of those schools, workshops, or mas­

ters.

It is often rewarding to see what artists have said about their own work

and to study their written sources on painting techniques. This kind of

information has come down to us in diaries, such as Neri di Bicci's Ricor­

danze; in painting handbooks such as Cennini's Libra dell'Arte, in anony­

mous recipe books; and even in model books, such as Stephan Schriber's

Musterbuch. These recipe books tell scientists what substances to look for

in analysis. Both scientific and art historical information help us understand

the significance of sometimes rather obscure recipes and tell us whether

the methods and materials described are common or exceptional for the

particular period. Today it is not unusual to find information from historical

sources incorporated in the examination of individual paintings.

viii
The discussions in this volume present historical painting techniques

from a variety of professional perspectives. With its wide range of topics

and approaches to the study of historical painting techniques, this publi­

cation is presented in the hope that it will provide an impetus for further

studies that involve material science, art history, conservation, archaeo­

metry, and the history of science. We also hope it will be one in a series

of such interdisciplinary and collaborative volumes.

In addition to thanking all the colleagues at our institutions who helped

us with advice and expertise, we also would like to acknowledge the

invaluable work and support of several individuals in particular. Miguel

Angel Corzo, director of the Getty Conservation Institute, immediately

supported the idea to publish the presentations of the symposium and

generously provided his time and support in the production of the present

volume. Agnes Grafin Ballestrem, director of the Central Research Lab­

oratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam, and A. W. A. Bos­

chloo of the Art History Institute of the University of Leiden supported

the entire project from its initial stages and advised us during the editorial

process. Corinne Lightweaver and Jo Hill, independent editorial consul­

tants, carried out invaluable work on the manuscripts, assisted by Joy Hart­

nett. In the preparation of these preprints for publication, we also wish to

thank Dinah Berland, publications coordinator, the Getty Conservation

Institute.

Arie Wallert

The Getty Conservation Institute

Erma Hermens

Art History Institute of the University of Leiden

Marya Peek

Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Amsterdam

ix
Plate la, left. Bartolomeo Vivarini, active 145� 149 1,
Saint Peter, 1490. Tempera on partel. From Polyptych
with Saint James the Greater, The Virgin and Child
and Other Saints. The]. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu
(71 . PB. 30).

Plate 1 b, above. Detail from Vivarini's Saint Peter, showing clearly visible, individual brush strokes.