Elisabeth, Duchess of Saxony as a child

Identification of wood species: limewood

Results

Drawing material:

- dry

Technique:

Linear to sketchy underdrawing executed in a dry material (chalk); few corrections of the lines in the face and only some deviations in the painted version; very economic indication of light and shadow with a few hatching-strokes, sketchy indication of the hands with extensive corrections, particularly in the left thumb, similarly on the right elbow; the folds of the pleated skirt are indicated with vertical lines and the pattern was outlined with horizontal lines before the different coloured areas of the decoration were sketchily described; the height of the floor behind the sitter was originally set lower down.[1]

[1][Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 515]

[Böhme, Schölzel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2012]

Linear to sketchy underdrawing executed in a dry material (chalk); few corrections of the lines in the face and only some deviations in the painted version; very economic indication of light and shadow with a few hatching-strokes, sketchy indication of the hands with extensive corrections, particularly in the left thumb, similarly on the right elbow; the folds of the pleated skirt are indicated with vertical lines and the pattern was outlined with horizontal lines before the different coloured areas of the decoration were sketchily described; the height of the floor behind the sitter was originally set lower down.

New frame: a German renaissance style black and gold decorated frame, 19th or 20th century

[Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 515]

- limewood

- 1.5 cm thick (thinned)

- seven boards, vertically aligned

- rebate running around all four sides of the panel

- marks from a block plane, a smoothing plane and sandpaper

- a black coating has been removed, leaving scant remains

[Schlegel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 515]

Support:

• splits and joins reinforced with blocks

• the bottom left corner has been reconstructed with a fill material containing wood

• extensive woodworm damage (open channels, filled with synthetic resin)

Painted surface:

• retouching, particularly in the background, in areas of the floor, along the joins

• some abrasion in the paint layers of the face and the hands

• glossy varnish

[Schlegel, Schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 515]

[Sächs. HStADD, 13458 SKD, GG Nr. 8, Bd. 10, Bl. 113][1]

[1][schölzel, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz 2005, 515]