Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Figure 1. X-radiograph of Andrea Mantegna's The Adoration of the Magi. The]. Paul Getty
Museum, Malibu.
FIgure 2. Dierie Bouts, The Annunciation.
Distemper on linen, 90 X 74.5 em. The].
Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (85.PA.24).
duced, including examples by great artists such as Albrecht Durer and Pieter
Brueghel (8) . Some of these that have survived relatively untouched show us
the beauty and brilliance of this medium. Well-preserved examples of this
technique include three paintings by Dieric Bouts: (a) the Annunciation in the
collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (Fig. 2); (b) the Resurrection
at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena; and (c) the Deposition in the National
Gallery, London (9). Many of these paintings, however, have either been
destroyed or severely damaged and altered. The glue renders the paint film
brittle and readily damaged by water; because of the glue's hygroscopic nature,
it attracts dust and candle soot. Consequently, most of these paintings suffered
the fate of being varnished in order to "liven up" the colors, thus becoming
oil or varnish paintings by absorption. Most of them were destroyed because
they were so fragile, and less than 100 of the above-mentioned Netherlandish
paintings have survived (10).
In Italy, however, Andrea Mantegna was the only artist to make extensive use
of this technique. Approximately thirty of his distemper paintings have survived.
Mantegna, with some of his fellow painters north of the Alps, must have been
intrigued with the effect of light, or the lack of it, on his paintings. In order
to visualize the effect of different media in the same light, we need only look
at an illuminated manuscript in the subdued light of a modern showcase to
marvel at the glowing colors (11). By contrast, it would be practically impossible
to view an oil painting under the same light conditions because of
the deep saturation of the pigments and the different refractive index. Mantegna
probably faced the same dilemma of wanting to create paintings with
incredible detail and luminosity that would not lose their visual power due
to lack of light and the distracting reflections caused by a varnished surface.
Because we live today in a technically advanced age in which we can regulate
the light we need, it is difficult to imagine relying on candles and torches.
Yet, until the wide distribution of electricity less than one hundred years ago,
light in a closed environment was scarce. Until the Renaissance, many palaces
and buildings in Italy had only a few small windows; many of Mantegna's
paintings were probably destined to be hung in a private bedroom or chapel
in the fortresslike Ducal Palace in Mantua, thus a technique that would not
112
Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice