UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Paintings in the laboratory: scientific examination for art history and conservation dr. Groen, C.M. Publication date 2011 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): dr. Groen, C. M. (2011). Paintings in the laboratory: scientific examination for art history and conservation. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. 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Gesamtherstellung:'ilernerscheVerlaBsgesellschaft mbH, 1)iiorms Druck: Gra{icasSantamaria, Vltori: ISSN0931-7198 Printed in Spa.in q6 Karin Groen Investigationof the Use of the BindingMedium by Rembrandt ChemicalAnalysis and Rheology As early asthe seventeenthcentury, people were alreadyfas- attachesto the prepared canvasor panel. It was thought that cinated by Rembrandt's painting technique. Marshall Smith, the question, mentioned above, of how Rembrandt realized an English author writing about this question in 1693, says the variety of his paint effects might perhaps be answered by uRembrandthad a Bold Free way, colours laid with great this approach. Body, and many times in old Men's Heads extraordinary deep Previously, such chemical analyticai research as had been Shaddows,very difficult to Copy, the colours being layd on conducted had led to the conclusion that the pigments and Rough and in full touches, though sometimes neatly fin- binding medium Rembrandt used to create his illusions did ished".r Smith must have had Rembrandt'slate work particu- not significantly differ from what other painters of the time larly in mind. In his essayin the catalogueof the 7997/2Rem- had at their disposal.sThis, however,left open the questionof brandt exhibition, Ernst van \fletering explores this manner of those aspectsin which Rembrandt's paintings were different. working which was kno.wn in the seventeenthcentury as 'the Since it appearedthat the problem would need to be tackled rough manner..2For anyone alert to it, the technicalaspects of from several different angles, both students of the written this rough manner are to be found even in Rembrandt'sear- sources and those who reconstruct the paint on the basis of 'Wetering, Iiest work, and according to Van de the reason for the results of scientific analyseswere brought together in a this was that Rembrandt, from the outset, was concernedwith singlecooperative research project.6 manipulations of the paint surface for expressivepurpose. \flith the restoration of the Rembrandts in the Rijksmu- Smooth,shining passagesalternated with impasto where the seum,a unique situationpresented itself where a group of the paint can be seen in clots and ridges. The choice depended late paintings could be scientificallyinvestigated by the same both on the material to be represented- stone, leather,skin, peoplewithin a limited period and under identicalconditions.T metal- and on the placingsof objectsin the light. For the RembrandtResearch Project, there was one aspectof Throughout the Rembrandt ResearchProject, one of the highest priority - the question as to the nature and working aims has been to gain insight into the materials Rembrandt properties of Rembrandt'spaint, and with particular concern usedand the working methods he applied.aAlthough the orig- for the binding medium used, the siccatives(driers) and the ap- inal purpose was to gather data that would help to answer plication of glazing and other effects.Paint samples,usually questionsof authenticitn the broader aspectof the Rembrandt taken to answer questions raised by the restoration, were investigationquickly assumeda significanceof its own: the sometimeshighiy informative. For the purposes of restora- data turned out to provide a useful framework within which tion, an identicalchemical analysis of all the paintingswas un- both to understandphenomena observed in Rembrandt'spaint- necessary.In relation to the 'binding medium questioq' too, rngsand to deepenour insight into the techniqueof painting much greater attention has been paid to particular paintings and studio practice in the seventeenthcentury in general. than to others, for instancerc the Jeuish Bride and The ,Staal- Following the scientific investigation of Rembrandt'spa- meesters<(The Syndics).Further comparativedata were also neis,the grounds and underpainting and the working method obained from researchon samplesfrom other paintings.s o{ the first part of Rembrandt's career,4it was decided to turn The question of how easythe paint was to work, or of the our attention to the binding medium that Rembrandt used. impasto characterof the dried paint, also raisesthe question of The binding medium is the material in which pigment par- whether and, if so, how that might be quantified.This ques- ttciesare imbedded and which ensuresthat the painr dries and tion has to be translated into physical measurementsand 207 : PAINTINGS IN THE LABORATORY: Scientific Examination for Art History and Conservation 93 chemicalanalyses of both dry and wet paint. The investigation white paint and other examples of paint surfaces obtained of the nature and working propertiesof Rembrandt'spaints be- using this paint is demonstrated in Van de \fetering's 'Tech- came known as the work progressedas >thebinding medium nique in the Serviceof Illusion., both in the tableclothin The research..since considerationof the influence of marerialson ,Staalrneesters.and in the skirt of theJeutish Bride.In the lat- the picrorial style of an artist normally lead us to think of the ter, clots of white paint can be seen under the thin pink and binding medium.e red in the skirt and threads of white paint in the transparent \flhen it comesto the working propertiesof the paint, how- materialof the woman'ssleeve.12 (Plate 1)' ever, the pigments, and in particular the size of the pigment In the Bulletin of the Riiksmuseum,where our researchon particles,are just as important as the binding