Technical Bulletin 29 - Now only £5REDUCED PRICE

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Ways of Making: Practice and Innovation in Cezanne's Paintings in The National Gallery
Elisabeth Reissner

    The article on Cezanne explores his sustained engagement with the question of what it is to 'represent' at a particular historical moment.

    It describes his refinement of an experimental painting practice that balanced control of means with a state of open-ended possibility or uncertainty.

    Close scrutiny of the paintings' surfaces and technical study of the National Gallery Cezannes enabled a critical reading of secondary accounts of Cezanne's practice and his theoretical statements.

    The author also investigates the ways in which Cezanne chose to use his materials, not to copy or reproduce nature but to give 'concrete expression to his sensory experiences'.

      Two Versions of The Fountain of Love by Jean-Honore Fragonard: A Comparative Study
  Mark Leonard, Ashok Roy and Scott Schaefer

    Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732/1806) painted two versions of The Fountain of Love around 1785.

    One version of this iconic image was bequeathed to the Wallace Collection, London, in 1897, the other was rediscovered in the United States in 1996, and subsequently acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

    The Wallace Collection painting has now been cleaned and restored by Mark Leonard, visiting conservator from the Getty Museum.

    Comprehensive technical study of the two versions was carried out when the paintings were brought together in the National Gallery, and yielded much new information about Fragonard's radically different technique for each work, elucidating their evolution and relationship.

    Annibale Carracci's Montalto Madonna
  Larry Keith

  The Montalto Madonna by Annibale Carracci (1560/1609) was a composition that achieved great fame in the seventeenth century, and was specifically praised for its beauty by Bellori in his 1672 Vite.

    Annibale's original painting, however, had been thought lost until a version of very high quality, painted on copper, appeared on the art market in 2003.

    Investigation of the painting's materials and technique and a careful reconstruction of its provenance provided crucial evidence to support the belief that this was the prime autograph version painted around 1597 in Rome.

    The Technique and Restoration of The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Four Angels by Quinten Massys.
  Jill Dunkerton

    The cleaning and restoration of the small panel of The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Four Angels by Quinten Massys (1465/1530) was a complex process, involving the removal of different varnish layers and the reconstruction of losses in areas of drapery using sculptural models.

    On much of the surface the remains of a probable original varnish was discovered (and retained) but it could be only partly characterised by analysis.

    Cross-sections and pigment identification have been used to explain the gilding techniques and the unusual colour range of the painting, and infared reflectography, X-radiography and macrophotography demonstrate the skill and distinctive technique of the painter.

    The Use of Gilded Tin in Giotto's Pentecost
  Rachel Billinge and Dillian Gordon

    The technique of Giotto's panel painting of the Pentecost was the subject of a detailed study published in 1989.

    Subsequent examination under a more powerful stereobinocular microscope has revealed the use of gilded tin for the rays of the Holy Spirit, now almost completely lost and replaced with shorter painted rays.

    The article discusses the changes made to the painting during its execution and subsequently, and describes how the tin was identified.

    Possible similar changes to other panels in the series are mentioned and the relationship with other works by Giotto is briefly discussed.