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Blue Cabbages and Invisible Onions: Discolouration in the Oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer

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Blue Cabbages and Invisible Onions: Discolouration in the Oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer BLUE CABBAGES AND INVISIBLE ONIONS: DISCOLOURATION IN THE OEUVRE OF JOACHIM BEUCKELAER Master’s thesis Kirsten Anne José Maria Derks Student number: 11007389 MA Conservation and Restoration, specialisation Technical Art History University of Amsterdam Thesis supervisor: Dr. Abbie Vandivere External advisor: Dr. Margriet van Eikema Hommes Second reader: Prof. dr. Erma Hermens September 2017 Blue cabbages and invisible onions: Discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer Table of Contents Acknowledgements ______________________________________________________________ 3 Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ 4 Chapter 1 – Beuckelaer and Technique _______________________________________________ 8 Chapter 2 - Discolouration ________________________________________________________ 17 Chapter 3 – Case studies _________________________________________________________ 29 Chapter 4 – Colour in the oeuvre of Beuckelaer _______________________________________ 47 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________ 52 Bibliography___________________________________________________________________ 55 Summary _____________________________________________________________________ 59 Samenvatting __________________________________________________________________ 60 Appendix I – Kitchen Scene with Christ at Emmaus____________________________________ 61 Appendix II – The Well-stocked Kitchen ____________________________________________ 63 Appendix III – Allegory of Imprudence _____________________________________________ 71 Appendix IV – Photoshop images _________________________________________________ 118 Derks, University of Amsterdam 2017 2 Blue cabbages and invisible onions: Discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer Acknowledgements I am very grateful to Abbie Vandivere, who supervised me throughout the process, and to Margriet van Eikema Hommes, who – as an external advisor – was an invaluable resource for this thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank my instructors Arjan de Koomen, Maarten van Bommel, Ella Hendriks, Maartje Stols-Witlox, Erma Hermens and René Peschar. Thank you to Josh Summer, Marya Albrecht and Edwin Buijsen from the Mauritshuis for providing me with access to Kitchen Scene with Christ at Emmaus and their support in the research. To Carol Pottasch (Mauritshuis) for the insightful discussions. To Céline Talon, Lizet Klaassen and colleagues at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), for their invaluable support in the research into Allegory of Imprudence. To Susan Smelt and Gwen Tauber for providing me with access to The Well-stocked Kitchen and its cross-sections. Thank you to Ineke Joosten (Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE)) for the discussions regarding the SEM-EDX analysis. To Margreet Wolters (Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD)) who kindly provided me with infrared reflectograms. To my classmates who have always been a great support and a great inspiration. And finally, thanks to Melanie Gifford, Lisha Glinsman, Barbara Berrie and Michael Palmer (National Gallery of Art, Washington), who have taught me so much and who are a great inspiration for a young technical art historian like me. I could not have done this without the support of my family and friends, especially Bob Hendrikx. Derks, University of Amsterdam 2017 3 Blue cabbages and invisible onions: Discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer Introduction Over time, paintings change as physical objects. Some physical and chemical transformations begin the moment a painting is completed, resulting from interactions between the artist’s materials. One of the changes that can occur over a longer period is the discolouration of pigments. Although this topic has received scholarly attention and significant research has been undertaken into the discolouration of paints and pigments in general, much remains unexplored. In this MA thesis, I will focus on discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer (1533 – c. 1575), a 16th century Antwerp artist. He – together with his master Pieter Aertsen (1508/09 – 1575) – is famous for his hybrid kitchen and markets scenes, in which he often depicted foodstuffs in the foreground and a small religious scene in the background. This kind of painting played a vital role of the development of the still life genre. Published research on Beuckelaer’s oeuvre has primarily focused on the iconography, style and historical context of his paintings. Some small-scale technical research has been conducted in the past decades, concentrating on Beuckelaer’s painting techniques and materials as related to his master, Aertsen. Some literature mentions that generally dull colours dominate over bright, primary colours in Beuckelaer’s paintings.1 Another observation is that he painted the biblical scene in the background with muted and soft tones, while he depicted the still life in the foreground with rich and bright colours.2 This latter aspect of his paintings is addressed in most publications on Beuckelaer (and Aertsen), but the role of colour is never discussed in depth. So far, most scholars have not considered discolouration in the oeuvre of Beuckelaer, despite the fact that this must have a large impact and serious consequences for the appearance of his paintings. In this thesis, I will therefore try to answer the following question: “How have the deterioration and discolouration of the pigments used by Joachim Beuckelaer affected the current appearance of his paintings, and what are the art historical consequences?” To answer this question, it is important to understand the art historical context of Beuckelaer’s paintings, his painting techniques and materials and how these materials discolour. In each chapter, I will pose sub-questions that will help answer the main research question. In chapter 1, this sub-question is: Which materials and techniques were used by Beuckelaer? Published research about the historical context of Beuckelaer’s paintings, and his materials and techniques, will be discussed. The most important contemporary source, Karel van Mander’s Schilderboeck (1604), contains valuable information about Beuckelaer and his working practices. 1 Dik et al 1996, p. 351. 2 Silver 2005, p. 85 – 91. Derks, University of Amsterdam 2017 4 Blue cabbages and invisible onions: Discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer Because Beuckelaer’s paintings cannot be understood in isolation from the influence of his master Pieter Aertsen, the working methods of both artists will be discussed in this chapter. This context can help our understanding of discolouration in Beuckelaer’s oeuvre. In chapter 2, the current scientific knowledge about discolouration of pigments will be discussed. In the scope of a master’s thesis, time and possibilities are limited and therefore I will only focus on the following pigments: smalt, red and yellow lakes and lead white. As will become clear in chapter 1, these pigments were used extensively by Beuckelaer. Besides that, the discolouration of these pigments is often visible to the naked eye. In this chapter I will answer the following sub- question: How do smalt, red and yellow lakes and lead white change over time and what is the visual effect of this deterioration? In chapter 3, I will focus on discolouration in three paintings by Beuckelaer from three different collections. Because looking at the works of art must be part of any art historical analysis, I will discuss the visual examinations of three case studies. I will answer the following sub-questions: What does discolouration in the oeuvre of Beuckelaer look like? What caused the discolouration in the three case-studies? What are the consequences of the discolouration? The three paintings that will be discussed are: Kitchen Scene with Christ at Emmaus (Mauritshuis, image 0.1), The Well- stocked Kitchen (Rijksmuseum, image 0.2) and Allegory of Imprudence (KMSKA, image 0.3). These kitchen pieces were chosen because they were all painted in the period 1560 – 1566, and were accessible for study as part of this thesis. In chapter 4, I will discuss the art historical consequences of the discolouration in Beuckelaer’s paintings: what is the role of colour in stofuitdrukking in Beuckelaer’s paintings? The Dutch term stofuitdrukking will be used in this thesis to describe Beuckelaer’s abilities to depict objects and garments in a life-like manner, with a convincing modelling and texture.3 The discolouration discussed in chapter 3 has an impact on the visual appearance of the works, and in this final chapter I will try to understand Beuckelaer’s intentions, and how the paintings may originally have appeared. The outcomes of the research will be brought together to answer the main research question in the conclusion. The preceding chapters and the outcomes discussed in the conclusion will attempt to show that discolouration can have a large impact on the visual appearance of paintings and therefore on our understanding of them. This thesis is specific to the case of Beuckelaer’s paintings, but hopefully will provide a framework and raise questions that could be applied to other artists in the future. 3 This term will be explained in chapter 1. Derks, University of Amsterdam 2017 5 Blue cabbages and invisible onions: Discolouration in the oeuvre of Joachim Beuckelaer Image 0.1: Joachim Beuckelaer, Kitchen Scene with Christ at Emmaus, c. 1560-1565, Mauritshuis, The Hague. Oil on panel, 169 x 109,5 cm. Source: Beeldbank images taken by Margareta Svensson,
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