The oil on canvas painting Amor and Psyche attributed to Flemish artist Denys Calvaert in 1568 has subdued UV, IR and X-ray analysis. The result of these multispectral analysis provided a point of departure from the concept of materiality for further reasoning regarding: attribution, provenience, art period, display and panting technique. The painting is dated though not signed, and the dating is not consistent with Calvert’s signatures. The art period is coherent with the date. Marks, seals and conservation status might support its considerable age. The paintings mythological subject and painting technique might imply that it was destined for a private broad art market in Bologna. The painting technique in IR and X-ray show a relined canvas with an Italian 16th Century traditional built up painting layers, little underdrawing, little tracing and compositional changes. In comparison to a similar version of the subject attributed to Lorenzo Sabatini, it is plausible one version made by pupil Calvaert sprung from one composition in his master Sabatini’s workshop.

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The study departs from a technical examination of the panel painting Polyxena is Sacrificed in the Stockholm University Collection of Art, establishing the artistic process, level of ambition, and material choices by means of multispectral imaging techniques and elemental analysis. The artist, Jacob de Wet I, was both a well-reputed Haarlem-painter who specialized in small scale history paintings and headed a mass-producing workshop which supplied the low-end art markets of Haarlem and Amsterdam. The study places this artwork within the artist’s broad range of production. Further, the social and cultural contexts of the painting are investigated by comparing it to other artist’s versions of the subject, by means of an iconographical analysis of the image, and by examining its prominent theatrical features in relation to Dutch theatre traditions. By combining the technical, social, and cultural findings, the study aims to establish – and to delimit – a specific place in the art market and to suggest a possible type of customer for the painting. Confirming the work’s originality and authenticity, the results show an intuitive, thus likely time-consuming artistic process, a wide palette including expensive pigments – all indicative of a high level of ambition. In combination with the subject matter, these results suggest the painting to be a commissioned work. Further, the image and its social and cultural context, indicate the commissioner to be a person of some formal power within the Amsterdam society, seeking to communicate high erudition and to express liberal political views.  De Wet effectively expresses his message using a combination of painterly effects, including the materiality of the paint.

The Venetian veduta or view, became popular in the Settecento when Venice had turned into a regular stop on the Grand Tour. The foreign market’s interest in vedute, prompted Venetian artists to follow in Canaletto’s path. Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) is today famous for such views, and his paintings hang in museums around the world. One of his vedute, Piazza San Marco, Venice, was bought by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1964. In 1990, however, the Nationalmuseum changed the attribution of the painting. What prompted such a change? This thesis critically discusses the difficulty of attribution and dating of vedute in the Eighteenth century, specifically of paintings by the artist Francesco Guardi. Moreover, it presents and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the different attributional methods based on documentary, stylistic, topographic and technical approach, and with what success scholars have used them to establish a chronology of Francesco Guardi's oeuvre. Due to its well documented history, the painting, Piazza San Marco, Venice, will serve as a case study for the difficulties of attributing and dating Francesco Guard’s vedute, and the thesis will present evidence to Piazza San Marco, Venice,’s authenticity as a Francesco Guardi autograph.

The painting Seated lady writing has undergone a technical investigation where its material characteristics were unveiled using non-invasive analytical techniques employing different wavelengths of the spectrum. The panel was analyzed from a material and a visual culture perspective. The thesis aimed to answer what the panel has undergone through time, how its materiality relate to its function, and where and when it was created. In addition, the aim was to investigate the objects portrayed and their value within the artwork’s historical cultural context. The panel show diverse damages that might relate to insect activity, carving with a sharp tool in the face area, stabilization methods evident from remnants of a removed cradling and a possible dimensional reduction. Preparatory features including both free hand underdrawing for minor details, and a tracing technique used for the initial rendering of the female figure and some of the textiles were identified. A blend of meticulously rendered detailing with areas of lesser quality in terms of execution together with the use of common pigments, point to an overall aim of producing art in anefficient way. Later interventions are evident such as the turquoise overpaint on the dress covering the original authentic violet or burgundy color. Visible in X-ray, a dense element covering the bust may be interpreted as a painted thin fabric. The lack of the superficial viscous modelling layers reduce the face of its plasticity and many colors have altered and darkened. The setting and the woman’s fashion indicates an early Dutch 16th century courtly aesthetic. The objects in the rich interior alludes to religious symbolism referring to the Magdalene. The paintings attribution to the Master of the Female Half-Lengths was made in the early 20th century according to the panel’s stereotypical motif, despite the stylistic differences of the figure types. The panel differs from the other attributed panels in thesetting, where the woman seems contemplating in front of a diary, whereas the other women areportrayed writing, playing music or reading. This master has been regarded as synonymous with a workshop production, painting for the blooming 16th century art market in Flemish cities such as Antwerp. This thesis proposes that the paintings ought to be understood in the context of a genre The Female Half-Lengths, as opposed to adhering to one and the same attributed master.