DOI Heft:
Artykuły / Articles
DOI Artikel:Czop, Janusz; Frączek, Piotr; Hoyo-Meléndez, Julio M. del; Matosz, Marta: Leonardo da Vinci Lady with an Ermine - the latest research into the artist's painting technique and the state of preservation of the painting
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47327#0237
Leonardo da Vinci Lady with an Ermine - the latest research into the artist's painting technigue...
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paint with pigments absorbing radiation and those invisible on the radiograph. Bas-
ing on the analysis of UV photograph, he puts forward a thesis on the existence of
an outline of a window or a door on the right side of the picture. He describes a proc-
ess thanks to which the outline becomes visible in the photograph. However, neither
the IR photographs or the radiograph taken at that time nor later examinations and
analyses confirm this thesis. The photograph in near-infrared allowed Kwiatkowski
to see a preliminary drawing of the composition seen on the hair and in the neckline
as well as changes in the position of the left shoulder. “This drawing was madę with
a brush of soft bristles and paint of thin consistency.”
A precise analysis of the surface of the painting leads to a description of Leonardos
painting techniąue. Kwiatkowski puts forward a thesis that Leonardo painted with
both hands and proves it giving as an example parts of the ermines fur painted with
the left hand and also a technological copy painted then in Warsaw. On the basis of
his observation (also in UV) of the signature, which Kozłowski found in the bottom
left corner, he rightly ąuestions its authenticity.
Apart from considerations about Leonardos painting techniąue, a significant
part of the description deals with the State of preservation of the painting includ-
ing the walnut panel, although unfortunately, there is no description or photographs
showing the reverse. Kwiatkowski describes in detail the craąuelure of the pictorial
layer distinguishing four types of it (vertical, horizontal, obliąue and asphalt). He
relates the vertical ones with the effect of movement of wood, however the others
result from the kind and way of applying paint. The direction of the linę of cracks re-
flects the direction of applying paint at the stage of drawing or preliminary painting.
On the basis of a UV photograph Kwiatkowski describes retouching as coming from
different conservation treatments. Similarly, he refers to the secondary black back-
ground, which was “corrected a few times and rather in parts during successive con-
servation interventions.” He notices differences in thickness of varnish and believes
that its thick layer can be found also under the black paint. Analyzing the inscrip-
tion, he confirms its Polish attribution and the time of its origin as the beginning of
19th century. Unfortunately, in the description we cannot find any Information about
the two existing areas in which the overpaint layer was removed in part of the back-
ground.
The first foreign journey of the painting beyond the ‘iron curtain took place in
years 1991/92. The Lady was loaned to the National Gallery in Washington, where
it was also subjected to physico-chemical examination, whose aim was to broaden
the knowledge about its structure and the State of preservation as well as to do a com-
parative analysis with another portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci - of Ginevra de
Benci. During the examination conducted by David Buli10 - a conservator at the Na-
tional Gallery, who had earlier examined and restored the portrait of Ginevra de
10 D. Buli, Two Portraits by Leonardo: Ginevra de’ Benci and the Lady with an Ermine, “Artibus et
Historiae” 1992, vol. 25, pp. 67-83.
235
paint with pigments absorbing radiation and those invisible on the radiograph. Bas-
ing on the analysis of UV photograph, he puts forward a thesis on the existence of
an outline of a window or a door on the right side of the picture. He describes a proc-
ess thanks to which the outline becomes visible in the photograph. However, neither
the IR photographs or the radiograph taken at that time nor later examinations and
analyses confirm this thesis. The photograph in near-infrared allowed Kwiatkowski
to see a preliminary drawing of the composition seen on the hair and in the neckline
as well as changes in the position of the left shoulder. “This drawing was madę with
a brush of soft bristles and paint of thin consistency.”
A precise analysis of the surface of the painting leads to a description of Leonardos
painting techniąue. Kwiatkowski puts forward a thesis that Leonardo painted with
both hands and proves it giving as an example parts of the ermines fur painted with
the left hand and also a technological copy painted then in Warsaw. On the basis of
his observation (also in UV) of the signature, which Kozłowski found in the bottom
left corner, he rightly ąuestions its authenticity.
Apart from considerations about Leonardos painting techniąue, a significant
part of the description deals with the State of preservation of the painting includ-
ing the walnut panel, although unfortunately, there is no description or photographs
showing the reverse. Kwiatkowski describes in detail the craąuelure of the pictorial
layer distinguishing four types of it (vertical, horizontal, obliąue and asphalt). He
relates the vertical ones with the effect of movement of wood, however the others
result from the kind and way of applying paint. The direction of the linę of cracks re-
flects the direction of applying paint at the stage of drawing or preliminary painting.
On the basis of a UV photograph Kwiatkowski describes retouching as coming from
different conservation treatments. Similarly, he refers to the secondary black back-
ground, which was “corrected a few times and rather in parts during successive con-
servation interventions.” He notices differences in thickness of varnish and believes
that its thick layer can be found also under the black paint. Analyzing the inscrip-
tion, he confirms its Polish attribution and the time of its origin as the beginning of
19th century. Unfortunately, in the description we cannot find any Information about
the two existing areas in which the overpaint layer was removed in part of the back-
ground.
The first foreign journey of the painting beyond the ‘iron curtain took place in
years 1991/92. The Lady was loaned to the National Gallery in Washington, where
it was also subjected to physico-chemical examination, whose aim was to broaden
the knowledge about its structure and the State of preservation as well as to do a com-
parative analysis with another portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci - of Ginevra de
Benci. During the examination conducted by David Buli10 - a conservator at the Na-
tional Gallery, who had earlier examined and restored the portrait of Ginevra de
10 D. Buli, Two Portraits by Leonardo: Ginevra de’ Benci and the Lady with an Ermine, “Artibus et
Historiae” 1992, vol. 25, pp. 67-83.