2006 August « The Sino Francaise Diaries

Guardian Unlimited Arts | Arts news | How Mary Queen of Scots emerged from a £50 painting that was written off as a fake:

Meanwhile dendrochronology, a technique whereby wood can be dated to within about 30 years based on an analysis of the grain, suggested that the panel on which the image was painted came from a tree felled between 1560 and 1592. Mary was beheaded at Fotheringhay in 1587, and Dr Cooper thinks that the work comes from the early part of the 32-year span indicated by the dendrochronology, which means it was probably painted while she was alive.

Further evidence was gleaned from paint analysis, which showed that the lettering of the inscription was done in lead-tin yellow, a pigment not used after the 16th century. A conservator worked for a year to gently remove the overpainting and return the work to its original state. It is a particularly exciting discovery given the existence of just one other portrait known to have been made in her lifetime. That shows her in mourning, probably after the death of her first father-in-law, Henri II of France. Known as the Deuil Blanc portrait, it belongs to the Royal Collection.

This is very exciting, it amazes me that a later applied varnish can foil so many people for so long. I am looking for an example of this painting so stay tuned. if it was painted during her lifetime it would be a very kewl discovery indeed.

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Having laid a solid tonal base, and incidentally become very familiar with the subject matter, I started layering the colors. Colors are lightly applied with medium to create a smooth and light layer called a glaze. Glazing is typically applied several times from very thin layers to create slight tinting, to normal color application, which, when applied correctly, will still reveal the tonal layers underneath.

Glazing is a key technique in oil painting from the very earliest techniques to today. Color layers will go from heavier application to lighter until there is almost no pigment on the brush. This helps create fine detail and translucent three dimensional effects.
I started by adding the first colors blended up, just to establish the colors. Just like working from thicker layers to thinner, it is standard to work from darkest to lightest layers. The basis of this palette was a fairly standard oils minimum palette with separately blended skintones of Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre and Umbre or white to tone.

I tend to blend a base skintone for each person and tone using the base color to create different hues for shading. ultramarine, umbre, vermillion and crimson are some that can be used to create subtle tonal and hue changes for different light effects and shadows. this creates a more realistic effect as it is blended off a base personal skin tone. Frequently a subject can have unusual and unexpected colors in their skin or clothing that as often quite subtle.

While a translucent white such as a zinc white was used in period for toning many colors, one of the final layers usually included an opaque white layer using a lead white. Many xrays of period pieces showed Lead white being used to create an opaque layer for strong highlights or sometimes corrections. Titanium white is more commonly used these days for occupational health and safety.

The very final steps in period paintings were generally the most translucent with tiny tone and hue changes, refinements in line and additional glazes to add translucency to the skin. Occasionally a final tinted glaze was washed over the painting to link the colors, similar to an imprimatura, but with far less pigment. This was especially used if there was not time to allow the work to dry sufficiently before varnishing. An oil painting will frequently take up to six months to dry completely. As varnish contains solvent, a painting needs to be completely and permanently dried before varnishing.