Johann Friedrich I, the Magnanimous, Elector of Saxony

Examined in normal light, raking light, UV-light, using infrared reflectography and under the stereomicroscope (40x)

- three boards, vertically aligned

- smoothed after being glued together; the surface was then roughened vertically to the grain with a toothed tool

- pale ground

- hardly any underdrawing visible

- binding medium containing oil, paint of liquid consistency

- rapid and economic brush application; few layers

- evident brushstrokes, but does not have the appearance of impasto when dry, except in the decorative elements on the collar.

[Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg, unpublished eamination report, 2022]

Stable condition, restored several times

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• Support: at an unknown date, already slightly warped, sanded down on the reverse and reinforced with two wooden crossbars at the top and bottom - the original surface is only preserved in a strip at the centre of the panel. During the same restoration, the left joint, which was presumably already slightly open, was reinforced at the top and bottom with two wooden blocks. At a later date, wooden strips were glued to the upper and lower edges at right angles to the grain, each secured with three wooden blocks attached to the original and the joints (glued and nailed). In the same intervention, the open joint on the right was reinforced with flat wooden strips.

Despite these measures the panel continued to warp. The fact that movement of the panel was prevented caused several superficial as well as continuous cracks to develop.

• Ground/paint layer: bubbles in the upper part of the painting suggest that it was exposed to great heat; as far as can be ascertained a later glaze was applied to large areas of the painting and the image is obscured beneath this now very dark coating.

• Overcoats: at least one darkly pigmented layer to reintegrate losses in the paint layer, which is also now discoloured

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[Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg, unpublished Examination Report, 2022]