Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

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underdrawing, and a third layer consisting of a dark green mixture of green,
blue, and white; no ground is used (Fig. 2). In addition, Scorel often paints
wet in wet with the usual run of pigments, except for his use of natural
ultramarine and a blue-over-rose structure. The latter superimposition of colors,
with ultramarine on the surface (as seen again in a cross section from
Baptism), has been linked to Scorers observation of Italian painting technique
(Plate 30) (7).
Figure 2. Cross section from Baptism with
measurements in microns: layer 1, traces of
the intermediate white layer; layer 2, particles
of black chalk underdrawing; layer 3, mixture
of light green, blue, and white. Photograph
by M. Faries (after J. R. J. van Asperen de
Boer).
Marteen van Heemskerck's technique compared
Before the conservation of the Cologne Lamentation and the recent revisions
in art historical opinion, what was known of Heemskerck's painting technique
showed little connection to Scorel (Fig. 3). The current acceptance of Lamentation,
long attributed to Scorel, as a Heemskerck by scholars Faries, Harrison,
and W Th. Kloek is by no means unchallenged. A study of the painting's
technique shows why a separation of "hands" has been so difficult.
Lamentation was begun as a Scorel studio piece and finished as a Heemskerck,
as seen in both the underdrawing and the painting technique. Infrared reflectography
examination, undertaken by Faries in 1991, disclosed exceptionally
complicated compositional change in this work (8). The painting was
taken through as many as six stages while the composition was changed from
a profile Scorelesque Entombment scene to a Heemskerck frontal presentation
of the Lamentation.
The numerous samples required because of the piece's complex restoration
history provided more than enough evidence about Lamentation's painting
procedure. The initial preparation of the ground and position of the underdrawing
in the paint layer structure match the standard practice of Scorers
Haarlem shop. A thin layer of lead white covers the entire surface of the
ground; it appears consistently in sections that show the entire paint layer
structure. The black chalk underdrawing is found on top of the intermediate
layer (9). Although some of the lines of the different compositional stages
must have crossed, no noticeable overlapping or disjunctures in any samples
that include the underdrawing layer can be seen. The presence of the lead
white intermediate layer coupled with the black chalk underdrawing can be
Figure 3. Maarten van Heemskerck, Lamentation of Christ, ca. 1530. Photograph by C. Steinbachel,
courtesy of Wallraj-Richartz-Museum, Cologne.
Faries, Steinbiichel, and van Asperen de Boer 137