SolInvictus Press 2013

Stefan C. Arteni and Myriam Sanchez-Posada de Arteni

The Secret of the Masters:
historical controversies and hypotheses

7th
th
Triennial Meeting,
ICOM Committee for Conservation, Copenhagen, 1984,
Section 11: History and theory of restoration
(Coordinator: H. Althfer, Restaurierungszentrum der
Landeshauptstadt Dsseldorf)


Quinten Massys, Saint Luke painting the Virgin and Child
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/saint-luke-
painting-the-virgin-and-child-115200
J an Miense Molenaer
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/molenaer/painter.jpg
ADDENDA
1. The search for the medium
Maarten van Heemskerck
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Marten_van_Heemskerck_001.jpg
Xavier de Langlais, Marc Havel,
and LEFRANC & BOURGEOIS
Marc Havel, Notes techniques sur la peinture a lhuile. Les
materiaux leurs emplois, Lefranc et Bourgeois, 1971
An update on LEFRANC & BOURGEOIS mediums
(September 13, 2013)
http://www.lefranc-bourgeois.com/beaux-
arts/telechargement/A_TELPDF_2010102114343013.PDF
http://www.oldmastersmaroger.com/?gclid=CIuwwdzngLkCFcOe4AodOzcAhQ
The legend of the Maroger mediums survives
(September 13, 2013)
Flemish Maroger Medium
http://www.oldmastersmaroger.com/flemish-maroger-painting-medium-5oz-tube-now-only/
Italian Wax Medium
http://www.oldmastersmaroger.com/italian-wax-painting-medium-5oz-tube/
Le mdium flamand Maroger
http://mediumpeinturehuile-atelierfontaines.blogspot.com/p/the-
true-flemish-maroger-medium-le.html
Christian Vibert (Atelier des Fontaines)
http://mediumpeinturehuile-atelierfontaines.blogspot.com/p/the-
true-flemish-maroger-medium-le.html
C.Roberson & Co, U.K.
Modern Maroger Medium: resin/gumArabic/linseed oil
http://www.robco.co.uk/roberson/#14/z
http://www.dickblick.com/products/maroger-medium/
Raoul Dufy, Portrait of Monsieur Maroger
http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/viewLot.cfm?afRedir=true&lotR
ef=1cf8cb780f&scp=c&ri=256
Gel-Painting Medium by Claude Yvel
Mastic and walnut oil with lead oxide
The long lasting painting medium of the baroque period. Black Oil
and a special Mastic Varnish are carefully mixed 1:1. The two
liquid components change into a thick gel. When stirring the gel
can be made liquid again.
http://shop.kremerpigments.com/en/mediums--binders-und-
glues/mediums-und-varnishes/gel-painting-medium-by-claude-
yvel-50-ml-79098:.html
Tempera grassa

http://www.labottegadelpittore.it/tempera.pdf
Giorgio De Chirico, tempera grassa
(egg and oil tempera) on canvas
http://www.lisavenerosipesciolini.it/ViewImage.aspx?url=images/De-
Chirico.jpg&title=Giorgio%20de%20Chirico,%20Ritratto%20di%20Elide
Gino Severini, tempera grassa (egg and oil tempera) on panel
Gino Severini, tempera grassa (egg and oil tempera) on panel
2. The scientific examination of paintings: a few
responses to the medium question (caution is
needed in interpreting the data)
National Gallery Technical Bulletin September 1977
Two Panels by the Master of Saint Giles
David Bomford and Jo Kirby
Observations on their cleaning and restoration
David Bomford



Materials, paint structure and techniques
Jo Kirby
The two panels show few differences, if any, in the techniques discussed so far,
and the identical range of pigments is found in each painting. The results of the
analysis of the paint medium of the two paintings were thus unexpected and
interesting. Several small samples were taken from each picture for analysis by gas
chromatography: from the green curtain, the bluish- green robe of the King, the white
altar cloth and the red of the carpet in the bottom right-hand corner in The Mass of
S. Giles, and from the pale blue sky, the green foliage at the bottom edge of the
picture and the red cloak of the attendant at the left in S. Giles and the Hind. The
results obtained are given in the Table on p.59, in the section on the results of
analyses, but it is convenient to summarize them here. They indicate that both egg
tempera and drying oil were present in the paint medium of The Mass of S.
Giles, whereas a drying oil, probably walnut oil, alone seemed to be present in
the samples taken from S. Giles and the Hind. It is possible to indicate the
presence of protein and lipid components in the paint medium in each paint layer by
staining the cross-sections with certain histochemical stains; thus, a layer containing
a medium of animal-skin glue is stained by protein stains only, one in which the
medium is drying oil is stained by lipid stains only, while a layer containing whole egg
or egg yolk is stained by both stains... In order to see whether the egg and oil were
present in the same paint layer or in different layers in The Mass of S. Giles', a
similar range of samples, excluding the red of the carpet, were stained with Ponceau
S (proteins) and Sudan Black B (lipids and certain other materials). The results
obtained indicated that the egg and drying oil were present in separate layers.
The white paint layer of the altar cloth appeared to be in egg tempera. The
results obtained from the cream-coloured underpaint were unclear. In the samples
taken from the mid-green of the curtain and the King's robe, it appeared that
the lowest layer of underpaint, immediately above the ground, contained egg
tempera. It is probable that the upper paint layers in both samples were
painted in a drying oil medium
The Mass of Saint Giles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-mass-of-
saint-giles-115756
Saint Giles and the Hind
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/saint-giles-and-
the-hind-115147
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 17, 1996
Analyses of Paint Media
Raymond White and Jennifer Pilc

The earliest example is particularly interesting from an art historical point of view.
Two panels examined, Saints J erome and J ohn the Baptist and Saints
Liberius(?) and Matthias ,are at present attributed jointly to Masaccio and his
slightly older contemporary, Masolino
Masaccio was largely responsible for Saints J erome and J ohn the Baptist, while
Saints Liberius(?) and Matthias was mostly painted by Masolino. It was therefore
particularly interesting that examination of the paint in several areas of the two
panels revealed differences in the paint medium used. The handling of the flesh paint
appeared markedly different and it was found that whereas egg tempera was used
to paint Saint John's flesh, the paint of Saint Matthias's flesh contained egg
enriched by the addition of a little drying oil. FTIR-microscopy indicated the
presence of both protein and drying oil in discrete areas throughout the sample
examined, suggesting that here an emulsion of drying oil in egg was used. Such a
paint would have differed from ordinary egg tempera to the extent that it would be
rather richer and could be manipulated more freely and with greater flexibility;..
In the Saints J erome and J ohn the Baptist panel, Saint John's red cloak has
been painted in egg tempera, possibly with a trace of drying oil added. In the
companion panel, however, Saint Liberius's pinkish-cream cassock and Saint
Matthias's olive-green robe have been painted in linseed oil
1. Red shadow of fold of Saint J ohn's cloak
2. Flesh paint of Saint J ohn's right shoulder
1. Pinkish-cream paint of Pope's cassock
2. Olive-green paint of the cloak of Saint Mathias
3. Pale flesh paint from the back of Saint Mathias's neck


1. Egg (+ trace of oil?)
2. Egg
1. Oil
2. Oil
3. Egg + some oil


Masaccio, Saints J erome and J ohn the Baptist
http://www.wga.hu/support/viewer/z.html
Masolino, Saints Liberius(?) and Matthias
http://www.wga.hu/support/viewer/z.html
The altarpiece of The Trinity with Saints was commissioned from Francesco
Pesellino in 1455. On his death in 1457, Fra Filippo Lippi and his workshop in Prato
completed the work by 1460. It is thought that Pesellino, who had probably trained in
Lippi's workshop, was responsible for the overall design of the altar-piece and
perhaps for the two figures on the left, while Lippi was responsible for the right-hand
figures, the landscape and various other parts of the work, such as God's hands and
the dove. The Lippi workshop is thought to have been responsible for the predella
panels... In the main panel, examination of paint from the left- and right-hand
figures and parts of the sky and landscape showed that the medium used was
egg containing an admixture of drying oil, similar to the paint used in the panel
of Saints Liberius(?) and Matthias described above. The sky, however, was
painted in egg tempera alone. In the paint used in the Trinity altarpiece for the
robe of Saint Jerome (on the right), which was slightly richer in texture, the
proportion of oil in the emulsion was correspondingly higher... In this case,
examination of the paint medium has thrown little light on the problems of attribution
of the different parts of the picture: the same medium appears to have been used on
the two sides of the painting, although not in the sky. The fact that the white paint of
the rocks in the predella panel of Saint J erome and the Lion (NG 4868.4) contains
pure egg tempera may be significant, given that this part of the altarpiece is thought
to have been produced by the Lippi workshop in Prato.
When egg tempera and drying oil are found in the same picture, it is perhaps most
common to find egg tempera used for the underpaint with oil in the paint layers
above, or egg used in certain areas of the painting white, pale blue or flesh paint,
for instance and oil in others reds and greens perhaps. The reason behind this
may be purely visual: egg tempera gives a colder white, for example, and a paint
surface with a slight sheen. The glazes of lake pigments and copper-containing
green pigments used to model the shadows and folds of clothing are more effective
in a medium of drying oil, however. A combination of the two methods of proceeding
is found in The Virgin and Child with Saint J ohn painted by Filippino Lippi around
147580... The pale blue sky was painted using egg tempera, while drying oils
were used for the principal layers of the robes of Saint John and the Virgin.
The Virgin's green sleeve lining, for which linseed oil was used, was
underpainted in egg tempera, however. The red lake pigment (identified as lac
lake) used for Saint John's robe and the ultramarine used for the Virgin's
robe are poor driers; accordingly the walnut oil used for the former and the
linseed oil for the latter had both been heat pre-polymerised (partially, in the
case of the walnut oil), presumably to assist drying
The Trinity with Saints altarpiece
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100627767@N04/9737936678/sizes/k/in/photolist-fQvtiY-daFcRh-
d2EuAQ-buUese-9twwmE-9yNduD-9zwisC-9ztiJ M-8Mv16G-9zwhxw-dpWG8w-dpWG19-eKhY9R-
cHkP9b-d5pJ eJ -foBCdw-e3jpEj-e3jpEJ -bBSQeD-7Lu1QC-bWL4oQ-bWKSVh-9332EL-diCFaP-
diCF5Z-9FbxCU-ddXX3k-7CLyrU-a5HNmS-di1vdQ-fQvtDE-babVAK-bnQhjX-fQdTXV-fQvvkG-
fQdSRg-fQdV7g-fQdVxp-7zHHwb/
The Trinity with Saints altarpiece, detail, Saints Zeno and J erome
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100627767@N04/9737938810/sizes/k/in/photolist-fQvtWJ -fQvtiY-
daFcRh-d2EuAQ-buUese-9twwmE-9yNduD-9zwisC-9ztiJ M-8Mv16G-9zwhxw-dpWG8w-dpWG19-
eKhY9R-cHkP9b-d5pJ eJ -foBCdw-e3jpEj-e3jpEJ -bBSQeD-7Lu1QC-bWL4oQ-bWKSVh-9332EL-
diCFaP-diCF5Z-9FbxCU-ddXX3k-7CLyrU-a5HNmS-di1vdQ-fQvtDE-babVAK-bnQhjX-fQdTXV-
fQvvkG-fQdSRg-fQdV7g-fQdVxp-7zHHwb/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/angel-left-hand-114333
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/angel-right-hand-114334
The Trinity with Saints altarpiece, details
Filippino Lippi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-virgin-and-
child-with-saint-john-115994
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 8,1984
Raphaels S. John the Baptist Preaching
Allan Braham and Martin Wyld

landscape and foliage, glazed originally with 'copper resinate
The treatment of the picture
Martin Wyld
The foliage of the trees in the centre and right of the picture, the only parts of the
landscape not to have been overpainted, consists mainly of a 'copper resinate' layer,
now discoloured, directly on top of the sky. There is also discoloured 'copper
resinate' in the darkest parts of the green drapery and in some of the foreground

The medium was identified as egg tempera, except for a sample of the original
green glaze which was walnut oil with a trace of pine resin
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 9, 1985
Analyses of Paint Media
John Mills and Raymond White

Raphael S.J ohn the Baptist
Preaching
1. Blue sky between
trees
2. Green tree foliage,
top L.H. edge
Egg

Oil + resin
Raphael, Saint J ohn the Baptist preaching
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/saint-john-the-baptist-preaching-
115184
The rather weak azelate peak in samples 2 and 3 (about half the height of the
palmitate peak) definitely suggests the presence of egg as well as oil, perhaps in the
underlayers, but we did not confirm this by staining tests
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 9, 1985
Analyses of Paint Media
John Mills and Raymond White
Bouts The Virgin and Child No.2595
1. Red damask Oil
2. Virgin's blue robe Oil(+ egg?)
3. Green cushion Oil(+ egg?)
Dieric Bouts the Elder, The Virgin and Child
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-virgin-and-child-115902
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 26, 2005
Analyses of Paint Media: New Studies of Italian Paintings of
the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
Catherine Higgitt and Raymond White

Recent examination of the binding medium of a number of Italian school works
ranging in date from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century have revealed
an interesting, and a rather more sophisticated, approach to the use of egg tempera
and oil-based binding media than had previously been assumed. This period
corresponds to one of transition in Italy, as artists shifted away from the use of
predominantly egg tempera to the use of oil. It is becoming clear that oil was being
used earlier and more extensively than had been thought and that egg continued to
be used, in various ways, in parallel or in combination with oil throughout this
period
This egg/oil technique was still in use late into the fifteenth century as the Saint
Francis panel recently reattributed to Botticelli and dated to the 1480s, shows
...The painting has a gilded background and is painted in egg tempera, the use of oil
being reserved for the glazes traces of which remain in the incised lines on the
angels gilded wings
Analysis has shown that during this period, egg and oil were used together by
artists in a number of ways. The simplest, and perhaps closest to the older tradition,
is the use of egg and oil for different colours or pigments, as seen in the Wemyss
Madonna. Typically, egg tempera is found in the lighter coloured passages or in
underpaints, while oil was used in other areas, usually the richer, darker colours, or
in final glazes. In some works, there is evidence that a little oil has been mixed with
egg tempera (enriched egg tempera or tempera grassa) in certain colours, rather
than being used in separate colours or layers ... Botticelli may have employed this
technique also. While the majority of the samples from his two panels depicting
scenes from the life of Saint Zenobius contain egg tempera, samples from the
richer, more glaze-like areas suggest the presence of egg and a little oil (perhaps
tempera grassa) ... His Trinity panel (London, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery,
14905) is also mainly in egg, but with a little oil in the red robe and green cloak ...
Analysis of two other works on panel, the Primavera and the Coronation of the Virgin
(both Florence, Uffizi), suggest that egg and tempera grassa were used here also,
with the oil particularly associated with the greens ...
Sandro Botticelli, Saint Francis of Assisi with Angels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/saint-francis-of-
assisi-with-angels-115138
Sandro Botticelli, Wemyss Madonna (Adoration of the Christ child)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/4122063014/sizes/o/i
n/photostream/
Sandro Botticelli and workshop, The Trinity
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-trinity-with-
saint-mary-magdalen-and-saint-john-the-b207061
The use of tempera grassa has long been postulated (particularly in Italy) by
restorers and writers on technique, although no contemporary descriptions are
known ... As many analysts examining paint samples will know, it is very easy
to obtain results that suggest the presence of egg and oil together, but
understanding what this signifies is not so straightforward. In practice tempera
grassa is one of the most difficult media to identify and the term is often used
without any analytical basis. Before assuming that an artist has employed
tempera grassa, it must be established that the media are truly employed as a
mixture or emulsion and are not present as two separate layers (note 25).
Further, it must be confirmed that the small amounts of oil detected do not
simply represent contamination from another layer.

Egg-tempera films are often quite leanly bound, with coarse pigment particles,
so that the paint surface may be quite uneven or porous. Oil, from surface
layers, coatings or oil-containing varnishes, can therefore remain trapped in
the paint texture or penetrate a surprisingly long way into a film, making it very
difficult to avoid contamination. These paintings often have a long history of
past restoration interventions, and therefore the possibility of contamination
with materials added during such treatments, including retouching media, is
high. Further, old oil glazes may be present at the surface in more or less intact
layers, over egg-tempera underpaint
Samples from the green lining of the Virgins mantle painted with
malachite, from Botticellis Wemyss Madonna, reveal that two paint layers are
present. Examination of the medium indicated that the darker upper layer, and
the lower, lighter coloured green layer both contained traces of pine resin and
linseed oil in addition to egg tempera. It was not obvious how components
more commonly associated with a varnish layer could have penetrated down
into the sample, and even the underlayer, until the sample was examined in
cross-section ... This revealed cracks through the paint layers that extended
right down into the underlayer, which contained fluorescent material that is
likely to be residues of varnish
in the majority of cases the oil is thought to be a contamination. However, the
Battle of San Romano by Uccello is an example of a painting where tempera
grassa does appear to have been used ... Uccello has mainly used an egg-tempera
technique, but seems to have exploited the slightly different characteristics of walnut
oil-enriched tempera (tempera grassa) in certain areas, including the more saturated
dark foliage greens in the main part of the panel (note 30). There is a dark
translucent glaze-like modelling over the silver leaf of the armour. Analysis reveals
that the glaze contains a resin or softwood pitch mixed with walnut oil. Similar
pitch glazes have been found in a number of other works .. including the two large
altarpieces executed by Marziale ... In the works by Marziale the pitch is used in
the shadows in the vaulting over the figures, again combined with walnut oil.
Samples from elsewhere on the two altarpieces also contain walnut oil, tempered
with pine resin in the rich transparent reds and greens .... Although slightly later in
date than the works by Marziale, very similar materials are used in the two panels
depicting Tanaquil and Marcia by the Sienese artist Domenico Beccafumi ... Walnut
oil is used, with a little conifer resin added to the more transparent green paints. In
the transparent brown shadows, Beccafumi has also used a softwood or resin
pitch
Note 25
In a typical chromatographic analysis, the whole sample is derivatised and
submitted for analysis. All components are examined together and information
about where these components are within the layer structure is lost. It is
therefore very important to interpret the analytical data in the light of
information from spatially resolved techniques such as the examination of
cross-sections (whether by visible or infrared microscopy, or using
microchemical tests).
Note 30
In Uccellos Saint George and the Dragon (c.1470, NG 6294), walnut oil is used
throughout: J . Dunkerton and A. Roy, Uccellos Saint George and the Dragon:
Technical Evidence Re-evaluated, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 19, 1998, pp.
2630. It should be noted that nineteenth - century Italian restorers practice
might be an alternative explanation for the detection of tempera grassa.
Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/niccolo-mauruzi-
da-tolentino-at-the-battle-of-san-romano-114789
Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano, detail
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/5950781142/sizes/o/in/photolist-a4RiUS-9qYyFT-dKoQ8m-aWb34M-
aWb1Y4-aWb1KD-aWbcZn-aWb3HF-aWb6mn-aWb838-aWb516-aWban6-aWbbor-aWbeRt-aWb5QV-8bX3Pv-dtCm7s-
fdCNKy-e93GDF-b2BuHz-cuD3ro-fSky7B-bu1Sxx-9iB4gv-9XF7J f-avfMQc-djEW6q-acqSXo-8Z1xsm-gdxfAy-bS8ZPT-
9MMXYA-fsbaLy-aZAe2H-9qYyKB-aZAjCv-9iB4Ze-dWjxue-aWb9Pn-7WJ Lpj-eDyxRT-dMGeww-cWuohq-cWukrw-
cWuqJ 5-b4RckZ-8Pc3XY-9hRHjP-9dGrYi-8nFwuk-eRKKR3/
Marco Marziale, The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Gall,
J ohn the Baptist, Roch (?) and Bartholomew
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-virgin-and-
child-enthroned-with-saints-gall-john-the-115958
Marco Marziale, The circumcision
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-circumcision-
115493
Domenico Beccafumi, Marcia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/marcia-114737
Domenico Beccafumi, Tanaquil
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/tanaquil-115381
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 7, 1983
'Samson and Delilah': Rubens and the Art and Craft of Painting
on Panel
Joyce Plesters
the panelis of oak...Samson and Delilah has the same sort of white ground as
other of Rubens' panel paintingsChemical microscopy and X-ray diffraction powder
analysis of a sample identified it as natural chalk (calcium carbonate) with a binding
medium of animal glue, hence in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. De
Mayerne describes...how the paste of chalk and glue (the Northern European version
of the Italian gesso ground) is applied to the panel and scraped smooth with a
special curved knife
Gas-chromatographic analysis was carried out by J ohn Mills and Raymond White
on five samples from different parts of the Samson and Delilah, and the result in
every case indicated linseed oil as the principal component of the medium. In
addition, however, the gas-chromatograms gave an extremely small peak for a
resinous component. The presence of the resinous component was confirmed by
mass-spectrometry, although even by this sensitive means of detection the
proportion of resin was estimated to be just a trace, nevertheless it could be
identified as being of pine resin
It also has to be borne in mind that resinous substances, in the form of surface
coatings, adhesives and consolidants have frequently been applied to paintings in
the past. It seems unlikely, but by no means certain, that Rubens' use of turpentine
distillate as a thinner could have left sufficient resinous solid residue still to be
detectable by present analytical methods
The striped imprimatura, which, from inspection of the picture surface beneath the
travelling binocular microscope, and from examination of paint cross-sections, was
deduced to go over the whole surface of the chalk ground beneath the paint layers
proper, consisted of a yellow-brown earth pigment, similar in appearance to raw
umber, with a sparse scattering of comparatively large grains of lead white.
Insufficient sample was obtainable for medium analysis by gas-chromatography (the
average thickness was 10 - 15 , though some of the grains of lead white were so
large as to project up into the paint layer;). However, staining tests for media
carried out on paint cross-sections gave staining with Sudan Black indicating that the
medium is drying oil, not protein
Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/samson-and-
delilah-115287

Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah, detail
http://25.media.tumblr.com/2e57c32f0a617643228d5d9c3d4e781
0/tumblr_mkcq6afuo81s2nkc5o1_1280.jpg
Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah, detail
http://aegeancenter.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/samson-and-
delilah-ruben.jpg
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 2, 1978
Organic Analysis in the Arts: Some Further
Paint Medium Analyses
John Mills and Raymond White

...Luca Giordano, Homage to Velasquezc. 1692
Probably linseed but just possibly walnut oil
Luca Giordano, Homage to Velazquez
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/a-homage-to-velazquez-113999