Friedrich III the Wise, Elector of Saxony

- a single hardwood plank, almost radial cut, vertical alignment of the grain, sanded on both sides, width of the bevel: left/right to 2 cm, top/bottom to 3.3 cm

- Verso: a rectangular piece of paper/parchment applied to the reverse (13.9 x 11.2 cm)

- a light coloured, very thin ground (probably glue/chalk mix) was applied to the front of the panel

- extends on the left and right to the edge of the panel, at the top and bottom it thins out towards the edge, a distinctive barb is not visible, it may have been fixed in a temporary frame when the ground was applied

- visible in normal light beneath the paint layers: a dark pigmented fluid medium, possibly applied with a brush, sketchily describing the main contours and essential details

Recto:

- pigments ground in an oil-based medium, very thin application with brushes of varying thickness, applied in some areas in more than one layer, also some scumbling with opaque paint

- opaque paint in the background applied employing short brush strokes

- the figure was initially laid in with dead colouring; brush strokes clearly visible in the fur collar, the paint was modulated with light and dark admixtures of the base tones, employing a wet-in-wet technique, fine lines and hatching strokes (black/dark brown/white) were used to create volume

- the contour along the shoulder and around the hat was reinforced with blue paint

- an unpainted boarder runs along the top and bottom of the panel and corresponds in width to the unpainted edge on the reverse of the panel, suggesting that the panel may have been fixed in a grooved frame during the painting process; whether this also served as the final decorative frame is difficult to establish

- there are parallel incised lines c. 2mm from the edge of the panel

- an original coating could not be found during this technical examintation

Verso:

- oil-based paint, impasto application on the coat of arms, brushstrokes clearly

- the coat of arms may have been painted before attaching it to the reverse of the panel (?)

- a dark brown coating extends over the edge of the parchment/paper to the coat of arms without covering the edge of the panel

- the original frame no longer exists; however the panel was fixed during the painting process in a grooved frame

[Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg, revised 2020]

• stable condition

Support:

• a slight convex warp is visible across the grain; there are small triangular indentations (c. 2mm in length) at the centre of the top and bottom edge, possibly from a previous framing (?)

Ground/Paint layers:

• network of cracks, coarse in the background and fine in the dark areas; numerous old losses and scratches particularly in the background, all have been retouched without being filled, the retouching has discoloured slightly

Coating:

• probably contains wax, slightly yellowed and in part cloudy, uneven gloss matt and sunk in the areas of retouching

[Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg, revised 2020]