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The influence of old masters in the Triptychon der Krieg and Grobstadt Triptychon of Otto DixPayne-Rancier, Alexandra January 2007 (has links)
Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02
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Antichi maestri italiani al Thorvaldsens Museum di Copenaghen: il collezionismo di un artista danese nella Roma del primo OttocentoTonni, Sara 15 July 2024 (has links)
Questa tesi ha come obiettivo lo studio e la catalogazione del piccolo nucleo di Italian Old Masters - che ammonta a quaranta dipinti tra originali, copie antiche e moderne - collezionati a Roma nel primo Ottocento dallo scultore danese Bertel Thorvaldsen (Copenaghen 1770-1844), oggi conservati presso il Thorvaldsens Museum di Copenaghen. Tale focus ha portato a considerare anche la figura dello scultore in una prospettiva non ancora indagata, ossia come collezionista di dipinti databili tra il XV e il XVIII secolo, nonché di copie antiche e ottocentesche dai principali maestri rinascimentali e barocchi. Nella prima parte del lavoro l’analisi di fonti archivistiche in gran parte inedite mette a fuoco i molteplici ruoli di Thorvaldsen come collezionista, agente e intermediario, ripercorrendo la vasta rete sociale dell’artista entro e fuori i confini dello Stato Pontificio. Nella Roma a cavallo tra l’ascesa napoleonica e la Restaurazione, infatti, lo scultore iniziò a formare un’eclettica raccolta d’arte, anche grazie ai prestigiosi incarichi istituzionali da lui ricoperti e ai suoi contatti con artisti, mercanti e restauratori. Le sue collezioni erano visibili ad amici, conoscenti e viaggiatori a Casa Buti, in via Sistina, dove l’artista visse per quarant’anni. Varie testimonianze qui presentate permettono inoltre di avere un’idea delle raccolte Thorvaldsen prima del loro trasporto a Copenaghen, avvenuto in più momenti tra il 1838 e il 1844, quando nella capitale danese si iniziava a costruire il museo destinato a esporre le opere e le collezioni dell’artista secondo le sue volontà testamentarie. Nel secondo capitolo, il vaglio degli inventari ottocenteschi dei dipinti, della documentazione redatta in vista dell’imballaggio delle opere e del ricco carteggio tra gli esecutori testamentari di Thorvaldsen, attivi tra Roma e Copenaghen, consente oggi di chiarire alcuni aspetti fondamentali della storia della collezione sia prima che dopo l’arrivo dei quadri in Danimarca. Ad esempio, la sorprendente assenza, nell’Archivio di Stato di Roma, di licenze per l’estrazione della collezione Thorvaldsen all’estero potrebbe spiegarsi con la vicinanza di quest’ultimo a influenti personaggi della
corte papale, quali il cardinale Antonio Tosti, tesoriere della Camera apostolica, che fornì in più di un’occasione dei lasciapassare per il trasporto delle opere. Sono poi stati approfonditi i criteri adottati per l’allestimento dei quadri una volta giunti a Copenaghen e la loro sfortuna in patria, dove alcuni dipinti ritenuti meno pregevoli furono addirittura messi all’incanto con un’asta organizzata dal museo stesso nel 1849, a solo un anno dalla sua apertura al pubblico.
Il terzo capitolo è dedicato al gusto collezionistico di Thorvaldsen, il quale nella Roma cosmopolita della prima metà del secolo rivestì un ruolo cruciale per la comunità teutonica (e non solo) stanziatasi nell’Urbe. Le sue inclinazioni come collezionista furono di certo influenzate dall’amicizia con artisti e marchand-amateur della levatura di Vincenzo e Pietro Camuccini, così come dai rapporti intrattenuti con il purista Tommaso Minardi e, ancora, con Ludwig I di Baviera e con i pittori Nazareni: tutte relazioni che aprono nuove piste di ricerca per il collezionismo e il mercato artistico dell’intera penisola. Nel quarto e ultimo capitolo, che si presenta come un’appendice per agevolare la consultazione delle singole schede, viene infine presentato il catalogo dei dipinti. Lo studio de visu delle opere ha permesso di chiarire l’autore, il soggetto, la cronologia e, in alcuni casi, la provenienza delle singole opere, con significative novità su più fronti, che attendono ora di essere contestualizzate nei rispettivi
corpora pittorici degli artisti rappresentati nella collezione. Si è così potuta approfondire la funzione didattica che i grandi maestri italiani esercitarono sull’arte di Thorvaldsen: un’ispirazione che è possibile ritrovare sia nelle raccolte d’arte che nella produzione grafica e scultorea dell’artista danese.
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Vanités et résistances de la pensée critique. Du kitsch philosophique dans "Maîtres anciens" de Thomas BernhardLemieux, Catherine 08 1900 (has links)
Ce mémoire interroge le rapport développé dans Maîtres anciens de Thomas Bernhard entre l’écriture littéraire, la pensée philosophique et le kitsch. Au-delà de la supposition surprenante que la philosophie puisse être affaire de goût, de séduction et de sentiments, l’analyse de la notion de kitsch philosophique permet d’envisager le discours critique comme une arme à double tranchant qui promet autant l’émancipation que l’autoaliénation du Kitschmensch pensant. C’est à travers la figure de Reger, protagoniste de la comédie orchestrée par Bernhard, que s’incarne cette perspective critique paradoxale qui témoigne de problèmes de légitimation et d’un scepticisme croissant face aux promesses des grands récits émancipateurs.
À l’examen de cette mise en scène de la philosophie, apparaît une manière proprement littéraire de « penser la pensée ». Ce mémoire veut rendre compte de ce en quoi la pensée littéraire se distingue de l’essai philosophique mais aussi de tout autre métadiscours. La littérature, car elle montre plus qu’elle n’affirme, conséquemment permet de comprendre les points de contact et de tension entre la philosophie et le kitsch, entre la culture et la barbarie, d’une manière toute particulière. C’est cette particularité qui fait l’objet de cette étude et qui est considérée comme une forme de résistance à la commodification, la vanité, la domestication, bref la kitschification de la pensée critique. / In critically examining Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters, this essay questions the relations between literary writing, philosophical thought and kitsch. Beyond the surprising assumption that philosophy might also be a matter of taste, seduction and sentiments, analyzing the notion of philosophical kitsch allows for consideration of critical discourse as a double-edged sword that promises not only the emancipation but also the autoalienation of the thinking Kitschmensch. The figure of Reger, the principal character in Bernhard’s orchestrated comedy, embodies this paradoxical critical perspective. This paradox of kitsch critical thought attests to problems of legitimation that arise alongside a growing scepticism towards the claims of grand emancipatory narratives.
This examination of philosophy’s mise en scène in the novel allows for perceiving a specifically literary mode of thinking. This essay suggests that literary thinking differs from philosophical exposition as well as from metadiscourse generally. Literature, because it shows more than it affirms, therefore allows for understanding in a very specific manner the similarities and tensions between philosophy and kitsch, culture and barbarism. In sum, this study focuses in this literary specificity that comes to appear as a form of resistance to commodification, vanity, domestication – in short, to the kitschification of critical thought.
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Vanités et résistances de la pensée critique. Du kitsch philosophique dans "Maîtres anciens" de Thomas BernhardLemieux, Catherine 08 1900 (has links)
Ce mémoire interroge le rapport développé dans Maîtres anciens de Thomas Bernhard entre l’écriture littéraire, la pensée philosophique et le kitsch. Au-delà de la supposition surprenante que la philosophie puisse être affaire de goût, de séduction et de sentiments, l’analyse de la notion de kitsch philosophique permet d’envisager le discours critique comme une arme à double tranchant qui promet autant l’émancipation que l’autoaliénation du Kitschmensch pensant. C’est à travers la figure de Reger, protagoniste de la comédie orchestrée par Bernhard, que s’incarne cette perspective critique paradoxale qui témoigne de problèmes de légitimation et d’un scepticisme croissant face aux promesses des grands récits émancipateurs.
À l’examen de cette mise en scène de la philosophie, apparaît une manière proprement littéraire de « penser la pensée ». Ce mémoire veut rendre compte de ce en quoi la pensée littéraire se distingue de l’essai philosophique mais aussi de tout autre métadiscours. La littérature, car elle montre plus qu’elle n’affirme, conséquemment permet de comprendre les points de contact et de tension entre la philosophie et le kitsch, entre la culture et la barbarie, d’une manière toute particulière. C’est cette particularité qui fait l’objet de cette étude et qui est considérée comme une forme de résistance à la commodification, la vanité, la domestication, bref la kitschification de la pensée critique. / In critically examining Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters, this essay questions the relations between literary writing, philosophical thought and kitsch. Beyond the surprising assumption that philosophy might also be a matter of taste, seduction and sentiments, analyzing the notion of philosophical kitsch allows for consideration of critical discourse as a double-edged sword that promises not only the emancipation but also the autoalienation of the thinking Kitschmensch. The figure of Reger, the principal character in Bernhard’s orchestrated comedy, embodies this paradoxical critical perspective. This paradox of kitsch critical thought attests to problems of legitimation that arise alongside a growing scepticism towards the claims of grand emancipatory narratives.
This examination of philosophy’s mise en scène in the novel allows for perceiving a specifically literary mode of thinking. This essay suggests that literary thinking differs from philosophical exposition as well as from metadiscourse generally. Literature, because it shows more than it affirms, therefore allows for understanding in a very specific manner the similarities and tensions between philosophy and kitsch, culture and barbarism. In sum, this study focuses in this literary specificity that comes to appear as a form of resistance to commodification, vanity, domestication – in short, to the kitschification of critical thought.
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L'usage des maîtres anciens dans le discours de l'art national en France, 1780-1850 / The ‘Old Masters’ in the French discourse of national art history, 1780-1850Kim, Hangyul 15 December 2018 (has links)
Ce travail étudie la place particulière accordée aux « maîtres anciens » dans la littérature artistique et les pratiques muséales depuis la Révolution jusqu’au milieu du XIXe siècle en France. Dès la fin de l’Ancien Régime, la définition des « maîtres anciens » connaît une transition progressive : des artistes de la Grèce antique aux fondateurs de l’École nationale. Par l’usage de leurs noms et de leurs vertus artistiques mais aussi morales, l’art national en France doit acquérir une notoriété digne d’une République nouvelle qui puisse rivaliser avec les autres écoles nationales prééminentes. Cette nouvelle prépondérance des maîtres anciens français doit répondre au souci républicain de l’instruction publique, en assurant la diffusion de la connaissance de l’histoire nationale et des qualités édifiantes par voie de la « vision » : leurs œuvres exposées dans des espaces ad hoc et leur image représentée dans la production artistique contemporaine en tant que grands hommes, héros et pères de la Nation. Les textes d’Alexandre Lenoir, d’Émeric-David et de La Décade ont été explorés dans cette optique, avant la considération de la disposition d’œuvres dans les musées et des catalogues, en particulier les Annales de Landon, et des créations artistiques dédiées à l’image des maîtres anciens. Redécouverts à dessein, les maîtres anciens contribuent à la construction d’une identité culturelle nationale et collective. / This thesis problematises in historical context the identity of the ‘Old Masters’ in the literature on art and practices of museums in France from the time of the French Revolution until the mid-nineteenth century. Since the end of the Old Regime, the definition of the ‘Old Masters’ was transformed: a transition of principal elements, from the classical Greek artists to the founders of the National School, took place. This transition reflected the anxiety of the newborn French Republic facing an international rivalry in art history and myriad obstacles to its social and political goals. To meet the concerns of competition and emulation, the names as well as the artistic and moral qualities of ‘Masters’ were recognised, with emphasis, as being closely linked to public instruction and national history. The thesis analyses the texts and museum theories of Alexandre Lenoir and Toussaint-Bernard Émeric-David and the discussion of ‘Old Masters’ in the republican journal La Décade. Also analysed in this context are the displays of the Old Masters in the museums, catalogues (with a focus of Landon’s Annales) and works of art during the Revolution and the first half of the nineteenth century recreating the images of the Old Masters as national heroes or fathers of French art. This consciously performed reconstruction of the ‘Old Masters’ during the French Revolution made a crucial contribution to the formation of the cultural identity of France.
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Jackson Pollock, 1930-1955 : the influence of the Old MastersRoncone, Natalie Maria January 2011 (has links)
The imagery in Jackson Pollock's three extant sketchbooks which date from c.1934-1939 is dependent on that of other artists, especially El Greco, Rubens and Tintoretto. By 1947 however, the painter achieved a mature synthesis, distinctly his, which influenced contemporary painting, and was seminal for the work of a number of artists of the succeeding era. This dissertation is an attempt to document the phases of Pollock's artistic style from the early 1930s through to the middle 1950s, and to investigate the forces which may have catalyzed his temperament and precipitated his late style. The early sketchbooks begun in c.1934 represent Pollock's engagement with the art of the Old Masters and the teaching techniques of Thomas Hart Benton that utilized works from the Renaissance. The third sketchbook from c.1937-1939 induced him to re-examine the work of the Old Masters in a dialectical approach which incorporated new masters with old, but remained preoccupied with the sacred imagery found in the first two books. It is a resolution of these seemingly opposing modes of representation which produced several influential paintings in the early 1940s, including Guardians of the Secret and Pasiphae. At the same time these works display structural emulations related to those of Old Master paintings that would become increasingly prominent in Pollock's art. The canvases of 1947-1950, produced in what is commonly termed the “Classic Poured Period,” appear to represent a quantum leap beyond the concerns of Old Master works and European precedents. By this point Pollock had developed a fluency and assurance in his use of color and line that seems to extend further than the studied paradigmatic repetitions of his early sketchbooks. However, despite the radically new technique his paintings still exhibit pictorial and formal infrastructures derived from Renaissance paintings which were absorbed into Pollock's new idiom with surprising ease. In 1951 Pollock enters what Francis V.O'Connor termed as ‘his fourth phase'. The Black paintings of 1951-1953 betray a further exploration and adaptation of Old Master ideas, both iconographic and aesthetic and were created in Triptychs and Diptychs, typical altarpiece formats. With these paintings Pollock's forms acquired a confident plasticity and invention derived from the sculptural practices of Michelangelo, and progressively fewer individual images are quoted verbatim. An understanding of Pollock's early preoccupation with old Master painting is essential to comprehend the formation of the aesthetics of much of his later art. Significantly the underlying infrastructure remains fixed to old Master precedents and it was precisely these models of Renaissance and Baroque art which became the medium through which his mature synthesis was achieved.
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La transcription en France dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle : l'exemple d'Alexandre Guilmant / Transcription in the second half on the Nineteenth-Century France : the example of Alexandre GuilmantTchorek, Denis 10 May 2012 (has links)
Le XIXe siècle français a été marqué par une pratique extrêmement répandue de la transcription musicale. Cette thèse veut s'attacher à ses usages comme moyen d'accès à l'œuvre, à travers l'apport exceptionnel en ce domaine du compositeur et organiste Alexandre Guilmant, des années 1850 – époque de ses premières activités professionnelles – à 1910, veille de sa mort. Si transcrire n'est pas spécifique au XIXe siècle, cet acte irrigue la création musicale, se place au cœur de la conception esthétique de l'œuvre, au point de concentrer en lui de nombreuses questions liées à l'écoute, à la pratique amateur et professionnelle, à l'émergence d'une littérature spécifique et adaptée, à la propriété intellectuelle, entre autres. Le cas Guilmant, étudié dans son contexte socio-artistique, éclaire l'image du transcripteur qui se nourrit de l'extrême mobilité de la musique, s'imprègne des styles classiques et anciens, actualise des œuvres choisies et contribue ainsi à la construction d'un répertoire exemplaire. La transcription apparaît alors comme médiatrice d'une culture, capable d'accompagner le développement de la conscience historique. / Musical transcription was an extremely widespread practice in 19th-Century France. This thesis will focus on its use as a mean of accessing the original artwork, through the outstanding contribution in this field of composer and organist Alexandre Guilmant, between the years of his early professional activities in the 1850s until the eve of his death in 1910. Although transcription is by no means confined to the 19th-Century, it flows through all of musical creation and lies at the heart of the aesthetic design of the artwork – to the point of bringing into focus many issues related, among others, to listening, to amateur and professional practice, to the emergence of a literature both specific and adapted to intellectual property. Guilmant’s case, studied against his socio-artistic background, illuminates the transcriber who, feeding on the extreme mobility of music, is impregnated by classical and antique styles, updates selected works, and so contributes to the development of an exemplary repertoire. Transcription appears as the mediator of a culture and capable of supporting the development of historical consciousness.
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Originale und historische Firnisse auf Werken der Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Kassel. Schichtenaufbau, Schadensformen und Schadensursachen, RestaurierungsproblematikKrämer, Thomas 22 July 2019 (has links)
Die Kasseler Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister hat ihren Schwerpunkt in der niederländischen, flämischen und deutschen Malerei des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. Dazu zählt eine der größten und bedeutendsten Sammlungen von Rembrandt. Die wichtigsten und umfangreichsten Erwerbungen fanden bis zur Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts unter den Landgrafen von Hessen-Kassel statt.
Die Firnisse zahlreicher Gemälde, darunter Hauptwerke der Galerie, sind dick, stark gegilbt und verschiedentlich borkenartig craqueliert. Diese Firnisse sind vielschichtig. Mehrheitlich stammen ihre Firnisschichten von historischen Restaurierungen. Vielfach erscheint eine Firnisabnahme als wünschenswert, in einigen Fällen erweist sie sich aber als riskant und außergewöhnlich schwierig oder aus konservatorischen Gründen als unmöglich.
Die Arbeit ist in drei Hauptteile gegliedert.
Im ersten Teil wird die Restaurierungsgeschichte der Kasseler Galerie von den 1750er bis zu den 1960er Jahren anhand von schriftlichen Quellen dargestellt. Bedeutende historische Persönlichkeiten der Restaurierung, Maltechnik und Kunsttechnologie waren in Kassel praktisch (Alois Hauser d. Ä. und d. J.) oder als Gutachter (Kurt Wehlte und Max Doerner) tätig. Die restauratorischen Maßnahmen und verwendeten Materialien waren vielfältig. Es fanden ganzflächige und partielle Abnahmen, Dünnungen und Trennungen von Firnissen statt. Firnisse wurden in verschiedener Weise regeneriert, Gemälde wurden neu gefirnisst oder aber überfirnisst. Vielfach kommt ein sensibler Umgang mit den Kunstwerken und ihren Erhaltungszuständen zum Ausdruck.
Im zweiten Teil werden die Grundlagen und Methoden der Objektuntersuchung vorgestellt. Deformationen, Rissbildungen und Schichtenstörungen an Gemälden werden auf der Grundlage ausgewählter Literatur der Lack- und Anstrichwissenschaften, der Materialwissenschaften und Bruchmechanik neu betrachtet. Wesentliche Aspekte sind die innere Spannung von Schichten, der Einfluss von Löse- und Quellungsprozessen auf ihre mechanischen Eigenschaften sowie mehrschichtige Systeme und die Interaktion der einzelnen Schichten. Für die lichtmikroskopische Untersuchung der Gemäldeoberflächen und Querschliffe werden verschiedene Grundlagen geschaffen. Eine für diese Arbeit konzipierte grafische Strukturanalyse ermöglicht die Darstellung und Auswertung der Schichtenkonstellationen sowie der Rissbildungen und Deformationen der Bildoberflächen. Es wird ein Löseversuch am Querschliff entwickelt, mit dem sich Tendenzen des heutigen Löseverhaltens mehrschichtiger Firnisse darstellen und von Lösemitteln beeinflusste Schadensprozesse rekonstruieren lassen. Die koaxiale oder Hellfeld-Beleuchtung wird als ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der lichtmikroskopischen Untersuchung von Gemäldeoberflächen und Querschliffen etabliert. Zudem werden die Möglichkeiten einer Bestimmung von originalen Firnisschichten durch eine mikroskopische Untersuchung aufgezeigt. Die erstmalige Bestandaufnahme der Sammlung, die heute ca. 1600 Werke zählt, ergibt, dass 74 Gemälde eine erhebliche Firnisgilbung und gleichzeitig auffällige Firnisdeformationen aufweisen.
Der dritte und umfangreichste Teil stellt die Untersuchung von vier Gemälden als Fallstudien dar. Die ausgewählten Werke sind Bartholomeus Frans Douven, Susanna und die beiden Alten, 1722, Rembrandt, Die Heilige Familie mit dem Vorhang, 1646, Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), Das Bohnenfest (Der König trinkt) und Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-1695), Die weiße Henne mit Küchlein. Auf der Grundlage des maltechnischen Aufbaus und der individuellen Restaurierungsgeschichte der Gemälde werden die Schichten und Schichtenfolgen sowie die Schäden und Veränderungen der Firnisse dargestellt. Zudem wird die Wirkung von Lösemitteln bei früheren Restaurierungen rekonstruiert. Die Fallstudien geben Einblick in die Möglichkeiten, Risiken und Grenzen einer Abnahme, Dünnung oder Trennung von Firnissen mit Lösemitteln. In einer Fallstudie wird zudem eine mechanische Firnisdünnung untersucht.
In drei Fallstudien werden partielle Zwischenfirnisse festgestellt, in einem Fall kann ein originaler Firnis bestimmt werden. Die mehrschichtigen Firnisse weisen vielfältige Schichtenstörungen auf, die Folge von historischen Restaurierungen sind. Auffällige borkenartige Deformationen stehen in Zusammenhang mit Vertiefungen entlang ehemaliger Firnisrisse. Im Querschliff und insbesondere im Bereich des Craquelés erkennt man das partielle Anlösen und Auflösen der Schichtgrenzen sowie die Migration von Firnis und Farbe.
Die zum Teil gravierende Lösemittelempfindlichkeit der Malschicht resultiert vor allem aus den partiellen Zwischenfirnissen. Ein zusätzliches Schadensrisiko stellt das ungleiche Löseverhalten des Firnisses dar. Der Firnis wird vorrangig entlang des aktuellen und ehemaligen Craquelés ausgeschwemmt, so dass das Lösemittel dort länger direkt auf die Malschicht einwirkt. Die Ursachen dafür liegen wiederum in den Deformationen und Schichtenstörungen des Firnisses. Die mechanische Dünnung durch Abschleifen mit Firnispulver bietet eine aus konservatorischer Sicht unbedenkliche Alternative. Es werden die Möglichkeiten, aber auch die engen Grenzen ihrer Anwendung aufgezeigt.
Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Kunsttechnologie, zur Restaurierungsgeschichte, zu Methoden und Techniken der Untersuchung und Dokumentation und schließlich zur Konzeption von praktischen Restaurierungen. / The main focus of the Old Masters Picture Gallery Kassel is on Dutch, Flemish and German paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries, including one of the largest and most significant Rembrandt collections. The most important and extensive acquisitions were made under the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel until the mid-18th century.
The varnishes of numerous paintings, among them the key works of the gallery, are thick, strongly yellowed and occasionally feature bark-like craquelures. These varnishes are multi-layered, with most layers stemming from historical conservation treatments. Quite often, varnish removal appears desirable, but in some cases it proves to be risky and extraordinarily difficult, or even impossible for conservation reasons.
The paper is structured in three main sections.
The first section describes the conservation history of the Old Masters Picture Gallery Kassel from the 1750s to the 1960s based on written sources. Prominent historical personalities dedicated to conservation, painting techniques and art technology were practitioners in Kassel (Alois Hauser the Elder and the Younger) or functioned as experts (Kurt Wehlte and Max Doerner). A wide variety of conservation measures and materials were applied. Complete and partial removals, thinnings and separations of varnish were conducted. Varnishes were regenerated in different ways, paintings were re-varnished or over-varnished. In many instances one can find a sensitive treatment of the artworks and their visibly aged conditions.
The second section elaborates the basics and methods of object examination. Deformations, cracking and layer disruptions on paintings are reappraised based on selected literature dealing with organic coating sciences, material sciences and fracture mechanics. Crucial aspects include the internal stress of layers, the impact of dissolution and swelling processes on their mechanical qualities, as well as multi-layered systems and the interaction between individual layers. Different foundations are created for the light-microscopic examination of painting surfaces and cross-sections. A graphical structure analysis conceived for this work allows depicting and evaluating constellations of layers as well as cracking and deformations on the painting surfaces. A solubility test on the cross-section is developed, presenting tendencies of today’s solvent behaviour of multi-layered varnishes and reconstructing damage processes influenced by solvents. The coaxial or bright field illumination is established as a crucial component of the light-microscopic examination of painting surfaces and cross-sections. Furthermore, the possibilities of determining original varnish layers through light-microscopic examination are demonstrated. The first stocktaking of the collection that today comprises ca. 1.600 works comes to the result that 74 paintings reveal considerable varnish yellowing along with conspicuous varnish deformations.
The third and longest section presents the examination of four paintings as case studies. The selected works are Bartholomeus Frans Douven, Susanna and the Elders, 1722, Rembrandt, The Holy Family with a Curtain, 1646, Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), The Bean Festival (The King Drinks), and Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-1695), The White Hen with Chicken. Based on the structure of the paintings and their individual conservation histories, the layers and layer sequences as well as damage and changes to the varnishes are described. Furthermore, the effect of solvents during earlier conservation treatments is reconstructed. The case studies give an insight into the possibilities, risks and limitations of removing, thinning and separating varnishes with solvents. In one case study, mechanical varnish thinning is also examined.
In the case studies, partial intermediate varnishes are ascertained, and in one, an original varnish layer can be determined. The multi-layered varnishes reveal a range of layer defects resulting from historical conservation treatments. Conspicuous bark-like deformations are linked to depressions along former varnish cracks. In the cross-section and especially in the area of the craquelures, the partial solvating and dissolution of layer boundaries as well as the migration of varnish and paint are established.
The extreme solvent sensitivity of the paint layer detected in some cases mainly results from the partial intermediate varnishes. The varying solubility of the varnish poses a further damage risk. The varnish is predominantly washed out along the current and former craquelures, so that the solvent directly affects the paint layer for a longer period of time. The reasons for this, in turn, lie in the deformations and layer defects of the varnish. Mechanical thinning by means of sanding with varnish powder offers a harmless alternative from a conservation point of view. The potentials but also strong limitations of its application are shown.
This paper makes a contribution to art technology, to the history of conservation, to methods and techniques of examining and documenting, and finally to the conception of practical conservation treatments.
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