Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

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Kennedy of the Ulster Museum, Viola Pemberton-Piggott of the Royal Collection and Helen Valentine of the Royal Academy, who arranged the examination of the Turners in their collections, Anna Southall and Gillian Osmond, who pointed out interesting nineteenth-century pigment samples, and Stephen Hackney, Tom Learner, Rica Jones, and Anna Southall for editing. Notes 1. Townsend, ]. 1993. Turner's Painting Techniques. London: Tate Gallery. Information on Turner is published here, except where stated otherwise. 2. Townsend,]. H. n.d. Turner's use of materials, and implications for conservation. In Turner's Paintings Techniques in Context. Ed. ]. H. Townsend, et al. London: UKIC. Forthcoming. 3. The Diary ofjoseph Farington. 1978. Eds. K. Garlick and A. Maclntyre. London: Yale University Press, Vol. I (1799), 273. 4. Jones, R. 1991. Notes for conservators on Wright of Derby's painting techniques. The Conservator (15):13-32. 5. Cove, S. 1991. Constable's oil painting materials and techniques. In Constable. Eds. L. Parris and 1. Fleming-Williams. London: Tate Gallery, 493-529. 6. These Whistler canvases are in the Birnie Philip Gift, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow. 7. Townsend,]. H. 1994. The materials of]. M. W. Turner, 2: primings and supports. Studies in Conservation (39):145-53. 8. Carlyle, L. A., and A. Southall. 1993. No short mechanic road to fame: the implications of certain artists' materials for the durability of British painting: 1770-1840. In Robert Vernon's Gift: British Artfor the Nation 1847. London: Tate Gallery, 21-26. 9. Townsend, n.d., op. cit. 10. Carlyle and Southall, op. cit. 11. Townsend, n.d., op. cit. 12. Rainford, D., personal communication. 13. Hackney, S. 1994. Colour and tone in Whistler's nocturnes and harmonies 1871- 1872. The Burlington Magazine CXXXVI (10):695-99. 14. Some identifications were made by Rica Jones, Tate Gallery. 15. Welsh, F. S. 1988. Particle characteristics of Prussian blue in an historical oil paint. journal of the American Institute fo r Conservation (27):55-63. 16. Dubois, H. 1992. Aspects if Sir joshua Reynolds' Painting Technique. Unpublished typescript. Cambridge: Hamilton Kerr Institute. 17. Townsend, n.d. , op. cit. 18. Cove, op. cit. 19. Ibid. 20. Sheldon, E., personal communication. Paintings are privately owned. 21. Townsend,]. H. 1993. The materials of]. M. W Turner, 1: Pigments. Studies in Conservation (38) :231-53. 22. See note 6. 23. Jones, op. cit. 24. Townsend, ]. H., L. Carlyle, S. Woodcock, and N. Khandekar. Unpublished research. Townsend 185
Abstract Several of Whistler's paintings were examjned and, where possible, analyzed; specific examples of pigment and media analyzes are given. Literature sources were searched fo r references to the artist's materials and methods. This paper describes Whistler's interest in texture, his use of dark gray grounds, his limited color ranges and careful preparation of the palette, his frequent erasure of his unsuccessful work, and details of his studio practice and portrait techniques. Probable changes in the appearance of his work are also discussed. Art for Art's Sake: The Materials and Techniques of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) Stephen Hackney Conservation Department Tate Gallery Millbank London SW 1P 4RG United Kingdom Introduction Several of Whistler's oil paintings were studied in detail; works in the Tate Gallery, in particular, were analyzed and examined before conservation treatment using a fu ll range of analytical techniques. Paintings in the H unterian Art Gallery, Glasgow from the Birnie Philip bequest were also examined in detail and in some cases analyzed (1). Paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington were examined in conjunction with their conservation records. Several other works were examined or viewed in isolation; finally, the paintings in the Whistler Exhibition (1994) were inspected on arrival at the Tate Gallery (2). It has therefore been possible to make some interesting observations about Whistler's materials and techniques, based on detailed examinations of selected works and supported by the wider survey, and to compare them with the literature on Whistler's methods. This interpretation may be useful in understanding the present condition of his works and in helping to decide appropriate conservation treatments. It is also of general interest for the viewer wishing to appreciate a particular painting. Supports From the 1880s, Whistler frequently carried small panels for sketching, focusing particularly on street scenes, views of the sea, and figure studies. Some of his nocturnes and early studies were also on larger panels. The scale of these works was small because he painted distant views approximately the size that they appeared to him. For his major finished paintings and portraits, however, he worked on canvas, which provided a texture he liked. He often chose quite heavy canvases and applied thin grounds in order to preserve their texture. On other occasions he might paint on a fine canvas, then have the painting glue-lined onto a coarser one very soon after completion or even during the time of painting. He did this quite deliberately and there is evidence that he wished to imitate the lined appearance of old master paintings (3). His later work, such as Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian (1888-1900), illustrates this desire to express the canvas texture. Grounds Feurc 1. James Whistler, Note in Red: The Siesta, 1883- 1884. Oil 011 palle/. Daniel j. Terra Collcetioll. Whistler's grounds were crucial to his methods. He came to London shortly after the Pre-Raphaelites had taken the use of smooth white grounds and intense color to extremes; some of his early grounds appear to be the white, commercially available grounds of the mid-century. Yet Whistler's training in Paris with Charles Gleyre (an academician who specialized in subjects taken from his travels in the Middle East), his early interest in the methods of the French Realists, and his experience with pastel, etching, and drypoint were more important influences. Whistler frequently applied a light gray imprimatura of oil paint on top of the ground to allow him to paint directly in a mid-ground technique. This technique is most easily observed in his small sketches on panel, for example, Note in Red: The Siesta (1883-884) (Fig. 1). After 1871 he increasingly used darker gray, exploiting the ground to develop full chiaroscuro effects in his later works, often setting his figure against a dark background. A photograph of his studio reveals that he had a black cloth 186 Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, alld Studio Practice
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Historical Painting Techniques, Mat
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Contents vii viii Foreword Preface
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Foreword One of the first events or
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The discussions in this volume pres
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Plate 2a, above right. Attributed t
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Plate 4a, above. Jacques Louis Da
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Plate 7a, above. Valerio Mariana da
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Plate 9. Marco Palmezzano, Mystic M
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Plate 13, right. Surya in his Chari
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Plate 16. The Fifth King of Shambha
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Plate 20. Cross section oj Sample 3
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Plate 26, top. Titian, Venus and Ad
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Plate 29. Cross sections of the St.
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Plate 33. Paul Delaroehe, The Execu
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Plate 35, right. Detail Jrom the lo
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Abstract This paper argues for an i
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we find a description of the affini
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2. A Practical Treatise on Painting
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knowledge and understanding of the
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Table 1. Scientific methods used Jo
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the painting together, share backgr
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y distance with "the aid of the air
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ected, shadows would appear matte a
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The differences in saturation, clea
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19. White, R. Personal communicatio
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occupation agreable pour charmer l'
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DE PEJN'FURE PRATIQUE. Par demit::
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In spite of the laments of certain
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While cooking their eggs, two young
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some used for painting (i.e., amber
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ange of artists' materials, books o
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Figure 3. Personal account book, 18
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paper resulted in a volume of corre
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4. HKI MS 865-1993, 497. The move i
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[1] How to make a gold ground. Take
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into a glass, and put in a bit of w
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[37] To make crude verzino for writ
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it on what you are working, with a
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28. On these "clothlet colors," see
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it also includes instructions fo r
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Ricordi di belli colori Initially i
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Figure 4. Gherardo Cibo, "Fusaina [
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The treatise is typical for the lat
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Filza CXLIII, fols. 1122r, 1125v, 1
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that is, plaster of Paris, which ha
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100 80 60 40 a 3500 30.00 2500 2000
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process described by Cennini for ge
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Abstract The frequent use of verdig
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strating that spreading this glaze
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10. Thompson, op. cit., 61. 11. Ber
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Tingry, in 1830, gives a recipe for
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elonged to William Mallord Turner (
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500 450 As Ph As 400 350 Fe Co 300
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19. Merrifield, op. cit., 745-6. 20
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Table 1. Tibetan color names, trans
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J Figure 3. Three-dimensional spect
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Figure 5. Detail IR-reflectogram fr
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Abstract Icons preserved in the Nil
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I )--------------------------1 I i
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The understanding of an icon and it
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Abstract As part of a five-year sys
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later transferred to an artificial
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Winchester Cathedral Holy Sepulchre
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Gilding. Gold leaf was applied for
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Winchester Cathedral Holy Sepulchre
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scanning electron microscopy I ener
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Notes 1. Park, D. 1983. The wall pa
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Abstract It is rare for ancient ext
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Sa. Location : Salisbury west front
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sheltered eye on the southernmost c
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Abstract Extensive examination of A
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create surface gloss and could be v
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Figure 3. Andrea Mantegl1a, The Pre
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Abstract In September 1992 the J Pa
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arrow in Adonis's right hand ends a
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For the early works are executed wi
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J Figure 3. Fluorescence spectrul1'
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This property was deliberately used
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Abstract The St. Anne Altarpiece (N
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Figure 3. Infrared reJlectogram ass
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Figure 5. Irifrared niflectogram as
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followed by modeling layers and gla
Page 168 and 169: Abstract Based on extensive informa
Page 170 and 171: o . (Vv..-.< 1 2. underdrawing, and
Page 172 and 173: The key position of Lamentation in
Page 174 and 175: Figure 1. Workshop of Jan Bruegel,
Page 176 and 177: Figure 3. Camelis Vroom, Landscape
Page 178 and 179: Figure 5. Infrared photograph of Es
Page 180 and 181: at the beginning of the seventeenth
Page 182 and 183: artist like Vermeer had to use all
Page 184 and 185: Figure 1. Perspective drawing of Ve
Page 186 and 187: Hague, 1996). The author is also gr
Page 188 and 189: Abstract The paper presents some re
Page 190 and 191: Summary We can conclude after this
Page 192 and 193: the product, a salesman motivated b
Page 194 and 195: complaints, have been strictly adhe
Page 196 and 197: F(gure 8. Illfrared rriflectograph
Page 198 and 199: 13. Hunt, W. H. 1905-1 906. Pre-Rap
Page 200 and 201: Figure 1. The Execution of Lady Jan
Page 202 and 203: Figure 3. The Execution of Lady Jan
Page 204 and 205: Figure 5. Detail of Lady Jal1e Grey
Page 206 and 207: Figure 6. Paul Delaroche, The Execu
Page 208 and 209: 38. Merimee,J.-F.-L. 1830. De la pe
Page 210 and 211: F(gure 1. J. M. W. Turner, Goring M
Page 212 and 213: Figl/re 3. Detail if lower left, s/
Page 214 and 215: Figure 5. J. M. W. Tumer's The Dawn
Page 216 and 217: TabLe 1. Dates of manufa cture of i
Page 220 and 221: Figure 2. James Whistler, Nocturne
Page 222 and 223: 5). There are many such examples of
Page 224 and 225: Abstract This paper discusses aspec
Page 226 and 227: 1960s in North America. Requiring b
Page 228 and 229: 2. Eder, ]. M. 1945. History of Pho
Page 230 and 231: Figure 1. Jan Baptiste Collaert, Co
Page 232 and 233: sudden increase in the dimensions o
Page 234 and 235: lacks. Passages painted with mixtur
Page 236 and 237: 8. It is not clear when people firs
Page 238 and 239: Errata for Historical Painting Tech
Page 240: PAGE 159 Figure 2. Image source: Pe
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