The Altarpiece of the Holy Kinship [central panel]

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- fluid, black medium and brush

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing

- thin lines; occasional hatching-strokes

Function:

- relatively binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours and describe the essential details and the facial features; some representation of volume (hatching-strokes)

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process to clearly define form

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

- six boards, aligned horizontally

- height from top to bottom: plank I – left 22.0 cm, right 28.0 cm; plank II – left 28.3 cm, right 26.0 cm; plank III – left and right 25.5 cm; plank IV – left 12.7 cm, right 14.0 cm; plank V – left 13.0 cm, right 12.8 cm; plank VI – left 19.0 cm, right 14.5 cm

- the underdrawing is visible with the naked eye in areas of the flesh paint that have been overcleaned, it is clearly visible in the infrared reflectograph under the paint layers containing yellow and mid-blue pigments, and is less apparent under the red layers

- a few freehand brushstrokes describe the forms; light and shadow are not considered, a curved surface is occasionally marked with hatching-strokes

- the contours, main line of the inner forms and the folds of numerous figures appear to have been indicated with broad brushstrokes

- there is a black painted line c. 0.5-1.0 cm along the left, right and bottom edges (no longer preserved along the top)

- the haloes were executed employing gold leaf

Modern

[Cat. Frankfurt 2005, 204-225]

CDA ID/Inventory Number: DE_SMF_1398A

Cross-section number: EP 103

Paint description: red robe, Anna

Sample location: central panel, Anna, red robe

Sample number: 124

Examination method: microscopy

Observations:

1. red applied in two layers with different red and single white pigments, in UV-light the particles exhibit different fluorescence: there are different pigments in the lower layer a) red crystalline particles, dark red in UV-light, b) less pale glassy/amorphous particles, pale yellow in UV; in the upper layer a) a few red crystalline particles, dark red in UV, b) semi-transparent dark red inclusions predominate, fluorescing orange in UV-light, probably a red lake ?, c) some amorphous white glassy particles

0. the ground is missing

Comments: The robe was underpainted with an intense vermilion red paint and then completed with the application of paint containing a high quantity of red lake. Only a scant amount of white (lead white?) is present.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: DE_SMF_1398A

Cross-section number: EP 102

Paint description: yellow robe

Sample location: central panel, Joachim’s yellow robe

Sample number: 123

Examination method: microscopy

Observations:

2. transparent layers > 1-2 varnish layers

1. yellow layer: yellow pigmented layer with a single large red pigment particle > yellow robe

0. white layer, just remnants > ground

False-colour-infrared-image

CDA ID/Inventory Number: DE_SMF_1398A

Cross-section number: EP 101

Paint description: brown curtain with red

Sample location: central panel, top edge, curtain

Sample number: 122

Examination methods: microscopy, SEM-EDX

Observations:

1. reddish brown layer with vermilion, white and glassy splintery brown pigments (brown iron oxide), as well as glassy brown amorphous slightly lighter inclusions (organic, no Fe, no Si) EDX: matrix Fe, Pb, Hg) lead white, vermilion, brown iron oxide, that is to say brown iron oxide and a brown organic material with a fluorescence (brown resin?, it differs from the transparent brown with no fluorescence) and some soot black >paint from the curtain

0-1. white layer, crystalline with glassy and light brown inclusions, appears to be a descrete layer, whiter than the layer beneath, possibly a second application, in UV light the glassy inclusions appear slightly lighter> ground

0. white layer, crystalline > ground

Comments: the ground probably consists of two layers: the lower layer appears greyish, while the upper layer is whiter and exhibits slightly brownish inclusions. In UV-light both layers appear very similar. A pigmented imprimatura is not present. Layer 1. is an admixture of different pigments (lead white, vermilion, iron oxide brown and an organic brown material, that differs both in composition and UV-fluorescence from the iron oxide brown.)

Identification of wood species: limewood

• the central panel has been thinned and laminated onto a beech wood panel, which was cradled

• the top edge has been trimmed slightly

• numerous point retouches cover the entire surface of the painting, particularly on the lower two thirds of the panel

• the flesh paint has been overcleaned in numerous figures, in St Anna's face the paint layers are partially abraded, revealing the ground layer

• extensive damage within a horizontal band 10-19 cm in height across the entire width of the panel. This damage was obviously caused by the dimensional change of the support. It runs from the pedestal of the left column, through the Virgin's robe on the balustrade, at knee height through the book and the Virgin's left hand, it continues below Christ's shoulder, between the upper arm and knee of the figure of Anna to the pedestal of the right column; in this area the paint layer consists essentially of retouching

• a less extensively retouched, but very overcleaned strip of c. 8 cm in height extends over the entire width of the painting at the height of the frieze on the gallery, the haloes have almost completely disappeared and have been reconstructed with shell-gold and brown shadow

[Cat. Frankfurt 2005, 204-225]