Retabel of St Sebastian from the Markgrafpieske church: Flight into Egypt, St Aegidius [recto]; St Dionysius, St Erasmus [verso] (right wing)

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- fluid, black medium; brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand schematic underdrawing

- thin lines

Function:

- binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and indicate the essential details; 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

DESCRIPTION [Verso]

- as above

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich cda 2014]

- the panel consists of a single limewood board with flat annual rings

- trimmed along the vertical edge

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

- the ground is c. 0.5 mm thick and consists of a glutinous binding medium and chalk; it was sanded smooth and an undefined thin isolating layer was applied

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

- in some places an 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]

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

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

• very warped; this already evident in the second half of the 19th century

• a knot hole beneath the fill material was filled with a wooden dowel during previous treatment

• a 4-6 cm vertical split extending from the upper and lower edges of the end grain was glued and cottered during previous treatment

• the original width was probably altered when the panel was last framed, the wings no longer cover the central panel when closed

• the rebate, which would have been fitted in the original frame, has been removed

• the painted edges have been planed down by a number of millimeters, only the top left edge of the right wing exhibits an original margin

• no woodworm damage detected

• considerable paint flaking on the inner side

• losses of both paint and ground layers

• retouching and overpaint extends beyond the area of actual loss; completely overpainted: sky and grey ground

• the colour of the sky was altered from a pale pink (visible under the rebate of the frame) to a light yellowish-green tone

• the varnish layers are uniformly thin and bright, and yellowed

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

• no attempt was made to return the panel to plane as it is painted on both sides

• lime wood additions were attached to the vertical sides to restore the original width of the panel

• flaking paint and ground was consolidated

• the varnish was uniformly thinned

• retouching and overpaint was removed; fill material was reduced to the actual size of the loss or completely renewed; for this purpose remains of the original ground were employed

• retouching in watercolours, reconstruction with oil glazes over retouches in the sky

• application of a dammar varnish containing wax

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

• consolidation of the paint layers with a PVAc dispersion; varnish removed with ethanol in oil of terpentine, this also removed retouches and overpaint

• old fills were reduced to the size of the actual loss and replaced with new fills

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

• a provisional final dammar varnish was applied

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