Book Description
Preliminary drawings beneath the surface layers of a painting can often be made visible by a technique called infra-red reflectography. The fascinating revelations of such underdrawings are always a source of important material for art history, leading to deductions about attribution, style, changes in composition, and workshop practices. This accessible book presents the results of pioneering research on the underdrawings of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century paintings by conservation, scientific, and curatorial staff at the National Gallery in London. The contributors to the book explain the techniques of infra-red photography and reflectography and discuss the materials and technical findings of underdrawings in paintings of the Renaissance period. Also included in the book are detailed entries on the underdrawings of specific paintings by such renowned artists as Raphael, Giorgione, Cranach, Altdorfer, and Bruegel. This book accompanies an exhibition at the National Gallery, London, from October 30, 2002 to February 16, 2003.
From the Publisher
Published by National Gallery Company, distributed by Yale University Press
About the Author
David Bomford is senior restorer in the conservation department at the National Gallery, London.
Art in the Making: Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The National Gallery has a long tradition of exhibiting and publishing the results of the technical examination of paintings. This new title in the Art in the Making series displays the Gallery's important research into the underdrawings of fifteenth-and sixteenth-century paintings. These preliminary drawings beneath the paint layers can often be revealed by the technique of infrared reflectography - an area of study in which the Gallery has played a leading role." The book explains the principles of infrared photography and reflectography, what each method can reveal, and how the resulting image should be interpreted. Essays on the role of underdrawing in the painter's workshop and on the materials and techniques employed, are followed by individual entries on the underdrawings in paintings by major artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, among them Raphael, Giorgione, Cosimo Tura, Carlo Crivelli, Hans Memling, Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Altdorfer and Pieter Bruegel.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Infrared reflectography's ability to look beneath the surface of paintings and reveal their graphic foundation is a remarkable addition to the scientific tools available to art historians, connoisseurs, and conservators. In a recent exhibition that examined 16 of its Renaissance paintings, London's National Gallery has made more broadly available something of the potential and significance of this relatively new technology. Not only does this publication illuminate the possibilities for understanding revealed by these subsurface examinations, but it also offers up significant new perspectives into the craft and creative procedures of Netherlandish, German, and Italian painters of the 15th and 16th centuries (e.g., Raphael, Breughel, and Cranach). In addition to the scrutiny of single paintings, there are broader contextual examinations of the part played by these underdrawings in the larger process of creating paintings. While narrow in its focus, this small volume offers 100 color and 200 black-and-white illustrations and should be embraced by art collections seeking refreshed intellectual avenues in an old discipline.-Robert Cahn, Fashion Inst. of Technology, New York Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Art & Photography
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