Support
- limewood
- the support consists of a single board with the the grain running vertically. It is tangentially cut. The panel is 0.6 (l.) and 0.7 (r.) cm thick.
- the original format of the panel has been more or less retained. A pine batten 1 cm in width was glued to the right side of the panel, which was probably trimmed marginally during this intervention. The left side also appears to have been neatened slightly.
- The reverse of the panel is relatively smooth and has probably retained its original surface. In places there are remnants from an earlier cloth application as well as a small, intact area of embellishment at the bottom left. Here a pattern or relief is visible with a blue painted surface and traces of gilding, possibly the remains of an embossed and painted binding material (see photomicrograph AT_KHM_GG854_FR-none_2008-08-18_Photomicrograph-M6x-017). As similar remnants were found on the pendant, the portrait of Martin Luther, it is assumed, that both panels were once assembled together, perhaps in a small hinged diptych and for this reason exhibit an embellished verso. In addition to this evidence further observations suggest that both paintings were once joined together: a batten was attached, mirror-inverted, to each of the two panels (here on the right side, in the case of Martin Luther on the left side), which might be associated with their assembly together. Moreover one half of the same paper label is attached at middle height to each of the two panels, on Philipp Melanchthon at the right edge, on Martin Luther at the left edge.
Ground and Imprimatura
- white ground
- analysis was not carried out, probably a glue bound calcium carbonate
- there are no unpainted edges, the paint and ground layers extend to the edge of the panel.
Underdrawing
- Medium: fluid
- Technique: brush
Broad lines to indicate the wrinkles on the neck and a slightly shifted contour of the collar were drawn with a brush and are visible to the naked eye. In the face it is not readily visible whether the fine lines are from the underdrawing or the painted version, the wrinkles on the forehead, the lines on the nose as well as the left thumb are probably in the underdrawing.
Paint Layers and Gilding
The paint application is general thin, superimposed with a few impasto brushstrokes for highlights in the flesh paint and the collar.
First the flesh paint was laid in wet-in-wet with a fine brush. The hairs of the beard were applied in different colours, which enhances their plasticity. The modeling of the red doublet was executed over a red base tone with a mixture of black and probably a red lake in the areas of shadow.
Comparing the manner of painting in the portrait of Philipp Melanchthon with that of Martin Luther (AT_KHM_GG845_FR-none) the x-radiographs shows that the manner employed for the faces differs considerably. The flesh paint in the figure of Melanchthon is modelled with more contrast and illuminated parts of the face are selectively heightened with lead white. There is also a higher content of lead white in the eyes. The light ground was scarcely employed to achieve effect in terms of colour, which is otherwise so often the case.
The area of the overcoat was laid in with a reddish glaze, brown in tone, the folds of the robe followed in black-brown and a dark grey. There is a pentiment on the shirt neckline, here the left collar was originally further down (an impasto paint application is visible under the red paint layer).
The dark green-brown background visible today is probably an early reworked version, which may have occurred when both paintings were assembled together as a diptych. The fact that the paint application extends over the battens that were added later and the manner in which it overlaps the contours of the figure in many place support this theory. The original colour of the background is presumably light grey, it is occasionally visible in losses along the edge of the painting.
Framing
- not original
[Translation, Smith, cda 2013]
- written by Monika Strolz
- written by Ute Tüchler
