Vincent van Gogh's still lifes Irises and Roses were investigated to shed light onto the degree to which the paintings had changed, both individually and in relation to each other since they were painted, particularly in regard to the fading of the red lakes. Non-invasive techniques, including macroscopic X-ray fluorescence mapping, reflectance imaging spectroscopy, and X-radiography, were combined with microanalytical techniques in a select number of samples. The in-depth microchemical analysis was necessary to overcome the complications that arise when evaluating by non-invasive methods alone the compositions of passages with complex layering and mixing of paints. The results obtained by these two approaches were complemented by color measurements performed on paint cross-sections and on protected edges, and with historical information provided by the artist's own descriptions, early reviews and reproductions, and the data was used to carry out digital color simulations that provided, to a certain extent, a visualization of how the paintings may have originally appeared.
Paintings Conservation Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art JOHN BREALEY'S LIFE AND WORK Were bound up inextricably with Spanish art, and, in particular, with the paintings of Velazquez. As the foreigner selected to restore the totemic Las Meninas (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), he was initially attacked by the Spanish press, although his work on the picture was later so celebrated that he was awarded the Gold Medal for Artistic Achievement by King Juan Carlos I. The restoration of Las Meninas (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) was the begin ning of a deep involvement with the Prado and the work of its conservation department. The catalogue for the Velazquez exhibition arranged jointly by the Prado and the Metropolitan Museum and held at the Metropolitan in 1989 is dedicated to John.1 And it turned out that one of the last paintings he worked on prior to his stroke was a Velazquez, the Museum's The Supper at Emmaus, which we restored in preparation for the impending exhibition (Figure 1, Colorplate 7). The dating of this painting, first published by Aureliano de Beruete in 1898, has proved surprisingly elusive.2 Though the majority of scholars have placed The Supper at Emmaus in the artist's early period in Seville (1618-23), it has been dated variously up to 1629?tne nrst trrP to Italy?and even as late as 1632. Until now, the arguments presented have been pri marily stylistic, with minimal consideration for tech nique and none for the materials used to create the painting. This essay presents technical findings that place The Supper at Emmaus squarely in Seville and also addresses the issues of attribution that have been raised with respect to this work. In 1610, the eleven-year-old Velazquez was appren ticed to Francisco Pacheco (1564-1644), one of the most respected painters in Seville. Though modest in his artistic abilities, Pacheco, a humanist and scholar of artistic theory, spent much of his life compiling a major treatise on the theory and practice of painting, published posthumously in 1649.3 Velazquez's preco cious talent was recognized and fostered by Pacheco, who mentioned the artist by name several times in his ? The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2005 Metropolitan Museum Journal 40
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