Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

considered a kind of technical signature, although not of an individual hand:
It is the signature of Scorel's shop. Most of the pigments used in completing
the image are, of course, also common to those found in Scorel's paintings.
No ultramarine has been found, however, and the blue used throughout the
painting is azurite. This no doubt proves not only that Jan van Scorel is the
only north Netherlandish artist documented to have used natural ultramarine
in his works, but that he also used it selectively, saving it for his most important
commissions (10). It was, therefore, not available to his assistant, or at
least not for this painting. Not unexpectedly, the blue-over-rose paint layer
structure is also lacking in Lamentation.
Figure 4. Infrared reflectogram detail if
Lamentation, showing the dark undermodelil1g
strokes if Nicodemus's turbal1 in the upper
background. I'!frared reflectography by M.
Faries.
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Figure 5. Cross sectiol1 from Maarten van.
Heemskerck's St. Luke with measuremen.ts in
microns: layer 1, possible trace of ground;
layer 2, gray intermediate layer; layer 3,
compact layer if black with black particles;
layer 4, admixture if white, black, and red;
layer 5, white layer with one large azurite
crystal; layer 6, varnish. Photograph by M.
Faries (after J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer).
Other ways in which the painting practice in Lamentation deviates from ScoreI's
standard require a different explanation, since these differences form critical
links with other paintings that can now be considered early Heemskerck.
Dark modeling strokes executed with a brush have been detected in the
finishing stages of Lamentation. Some strokes that underlie the surface colors
can be disclosed by infrared (Fig. 4). Other black-colored modeling is applied
in the final paint layer, especially in reds. The cross section from John the
Evangelist's drapery clearly shows the black particles in the vermilion and red
lake admixture (11).
Although Scorel's Baptism and Heemskerck's Lamentation are the focus of this
study, their techniques may be compared to a substantial amount of related
technical material. Ample evidence proves that the paint-layer structure described
above typifies the Scorel group paintings during Scorel's time in Haarlem.
In addition, since nine paintings now attributed by some scholars to the
early Heemskerck period have also been examined by various technical
means, the evolution of Heemskerck's painting technique can be surveyed
(12). Of the nine paintings, only four have been studied with the binocular
microscope and sampled so far. At least three paintings use the blue-overrose
structure typical of the Scorel group although, in each case, the blue
pigment is azurite. Other aspects of the paint layer structure can be documented
by X-ray or infrared reflectography. The infrared vidicon distinguishes
pure colors that look black to our eyes but are transparent to the eye of the
vidicon from "true" blacks, which remain opaque in reflectograms. This instrumental
technique can therefore locate black modeling or under modeling
in the same way it locates underdrawings. Dark modeling strokes used to
block in forms can also be found in at least three other works in the hypothetical
early Heemskerck group. The technique is unknown in the Scorel
group. The presence of a thin layer of lead white over the ground can be
verified in cross sections, as well as by X-radiography where it appears as
broadly-brushed streaking. This practice is evident in a majority of works in
the early Heemskerck group. It is the coupling of underdrawing with this
layer, however, which undergoes a change; and finally, the character of the
layer itself changes. In Lamentation, the black chalk underdrawing is supplemented
by dark modeling and undermodeling in paint. Several other paintings
have a fo rm of underdrawing, but it is executed in a dark, paintlike
substance rather than chalk. In four works, the underdrawing is undetectable.
No underdrawing could be detected in the St. Luke Painting a Portrait of the
Virgin and Child (1532), an indisputable early Heemskerck, and no underdrawing
appeared in samples. In this work Heemskerck used a gray intermediate
layer, a very different basis upon which to build up the fo rms of his
painting (Fig. 5) (13).
Conclusion
Heemskerck must have worked in Scorel's studio for all or part of the period
from 1527 to 1530, and after Scorel left Haarlem in September 1530, Heemskerck
continued to paint in the city as an independent master until he himself
left for Rome in 1532. The artist moved from a graphic black-on-white
layout to more subtle forms of shading and undermodeling; based on changes
in painting technique, an evolution is proposed for Heemskerck in this period.
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Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice