Museum Narodowe w Krakowie [Hrsg.]: Rozprawy Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie (N.S. 8.2015)

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Janusz Czop, Piotr Frączek, Julio M. del Hoyo-Melendez et al.

pieces of Leonardos handwriting. He does not speak definitively about authenticity
(he considers different hypotheses) and emphasizes the necessity of further studies.
Although we know that when Izabela Czartoryska received the painting it was
“preserved splendidly,” only in 1952 R. Kozłowski described its State of preservation
professionally and in detail for the first time in history. He distinguished a few kinds
of damage, he also pointed out different characters of conservators interventions. He
noticed that the thin glaze on Cecilias face and also other parts of the composition
were removed as a result of incompetent treatment (probably while removing var-
nish from the light parts before the sale), which was why most of retouchings were
madę in these places (an exception are those laid on vertical cracks). He also supposes
that overpainting the background with black paint was done due to damage caused
to the original during conservation. On the basis of microscopic analysis he distin-
guishes two secondary layers of black paint and as far as the original background
is concerned he suspects that “the background of the painting must have been in
dark brown or greenish tones, which expressed spaciousness of the room interior.”
We do not know whether Kozłowski came to such conclusions basing on the areas
in which the overpaint layer had been removed by himself (or earlier in Munich)
because he mentions anywhere neither the existence of such areas nor making them.
The next examination carried out in the Conservation Workshop at the National
Museum in Warsaw by Prof Kazimierz Kwiatkowski9 and his team in 1952-55 became
the compendium of knowledge about the techniąue and technology of the painting
and its State of preservation for nearly 40 years. The objective of the research was
primarily to get insight into Leonardos technique and the State of preservation of
the painting. They did analysis of the painting and took photographs in visible light
(including macro- and micro-photographs) as well as used specialized imaging tech-
niques: X-ray radiography, UV, infrared (IR) and sodium light photography.
Chemical examination of three samples of the pictorial layer was carried out:
■ from the edges of the background (ground), lead white, copper compounds were
found,
■ from the blue cape, smalt was excluded, ultramarine was confirmed,
■ from the red and brown gown, earth pigments, ferric ones were found.
Kwiatkowski analyzes Leonardos technique thoroughly using the radiograph, also
the one taken with the use of rotating X-ray source method. Thanks to it he speci-
fies the wood species and the way of cutting the panel (visible structure of wood and
traces of a saw). He notices lack of ground on the edges, which confirms the fact
that the painting has the original format and the panel had been put in a frame and
grounded before Leonardo painted Cecilia Gallerani and the ermine on it. In the de-
scription of the painting technique Kwiatkowski distinguishes parts madę both with

9 K. Kwiatkowski, Portret damy z gronostajem Leonarda da Vinci w świetle badań technologicznych,
“Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie” 1957, vol. 2, pp. 531-542.