Johann Friedrich I, the Magnanimous, Elector of Saxony

- a single board (vertical grain)

- on the reverse marks from a block and smoothing plane

- thin black glue-bound coating

- white glue-bound ground applied in two layers

- lines scored into the ground around the edge of the panel

There is an underdrawing executed with a soft (metal?) stylus.

First the contours and areas of shadow in the face were indicated with brown glazes and then the flesh paint was added using an admixture of vermilion, white and brown in increasingly paler applications; the beard was held in reserve. Highlights were mixed with white; shadows often only a pigmented black glaze; the beard, hair and fur were rendered with fine brown lines over a reddish-brown glaze; folds in the shirt were modulated with long white brushstrokes, ranging from transparent to opaque; shadows in grey; the decorative border of the neckline was initially laid in with vermilion, and the detail worked up in brown, as well as paint containing iron oxide red and lead tin yellow; then impasto pearls were added in white; the same method was employed for the chain; it was painted directly over the shirt, but was held in reserve in the black tunic, which was completed after the shirt; the pattern on the hat or muff (?) was applied freehand with transparent to opaque paint (brown, iron oxide red and lead tin yellow); the background is an admixture of azurite and white; finally tiny hairs of fur were added over the background paint.

- Prehn frame; reverse concealed by blue rag paper

[Historisches Museum Frankfurt online, accessed 22.05.2023]

Paint layers:

• very abraded and extensively overpainted, particularly in the black tunic and the fur cape

• occasional losses

Coatings:

• recent application of varnish

[Historisches Museum Frankfurt online, accessed 22.05.2023]