Retabel of St Sebastian from the Markgrafpieske church: The Martyrdom of St Sebastian (central panel)

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- fluid, black medium; brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand schematic underdrawing (where visible)

- thin lines

Function:

- binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and indicate the essential features; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- almost no alterations made during the painting process

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder

Comments:

- possibly with reference to a pre-existing design

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich cda 2014]

- consists of 3 vertically aligned boards with the following widths: I: 24.3-25.8; II: 24-25.2; III: 25-22.3

- boards I and II exhibit knots on the reverse

[cda 2013]

- the panel was planed transverse to the grain with a block plane and painted black

- there is a rebate 12-15 mm in width and c. 15mm in depth on all four sides of the panel (later intervention)

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

- the c. 0.5 mm thick ground consists of a glutinous binding medium and chalk; it has been sanded smooth and exhibits a thin isolating layer which cannot be determined

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

- in a few places the underdrawing is visible to the naked eye

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

- the paint layers were built up employing varying techniques: in part a flat glaze application and impasto details in low relief; parallel use of oily and waterbased binding media

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

- new frame after an original Crach-profile (the former frame from the second half of the 19th century was removed)

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

• old woodworm damage at the bottom left corner

• left join split from the bottom (c. 20 cm), reinforced with wooden plates and four screws

• bright but yellowed varnish

• small blisters in the paint and ground layers over the entire surface

• cupping in the bottom right section caused by fill material and retouches

• further fills and retouches, frequently extending beyond the damage to create large overpainted areas in an oily medium over the entire painted surface

• very damaged areas in the floor on the right overlayed with a pigmented medium, apparently a glutin glue

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

• removal of the provisional varnish along with most of the retouches from 1972

• further cleaning of particular areas with Ethylene glycol and Dimethylformamide

• renewed consolidation of the paint layers and application of a wood preservative (Hexachlorocyclohexane) on the reverse

• losses in the paint layer were reintegrated with point retouching

• loss in the bottom right corner was reconstructed on the basis of a free interpretation of other preserved versions employing a fine trattegio technique

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]

• the paint layers were consolidated with a PVAc dispersion, the varnish was removed with ethanol in oil of terpentine along with retouches and overpaint.

• old fills were reduced to the actual area of damage and replaced

• small losses were reintegrated with watercolour, in part resin/oil glazes

• larger areas of loss in the bottom right corner were provisionally reintegrated with neutral trattegio retouching

• the reinforcing blocks were removed from the reverse and the split was glued

• the bottom right corner was consolidated with methacrylate, a protective coating of 'Bianobia' was applied to the reverse

• provisional final dammar varnish

[Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1980 B, No. 10]