Jørgen Wadum

Wadum Art Technological Studies - WATS

The application of mass spectrometry-based proteomics to artworks provides accurate and detailed characterization of protein-based materials used in their production. This is highly valuable to plan conservation strategies and reconstruct the artwork's history. In this work, the proteomic analysis of canvas paintings from the Danish Golden Age led...

The marking and branding of oak panel painting supports is a well-known practice in art-production centers of the Southern Netherlands, such as Antwerp in the 16th and 17th centuries. Conversely, information about the activities and regulations of 17th-century panel makers in the Northern Netherlands is scant and has hitherto never been thoroughly...

Albert Eckhout’s twenty-one paintings, signed and dated 1641-1643, kept at the National Museum of Denmark, has stirred much speculation as to their making, meaning, and function. Eight impressive larger-than-life depictions of native Brazilian inhabitants and a huge dancing scene of the Tarairiu Indians were presented as gifts to the Danish King Fr...

One of Rembrandt’s most talented pupils, Carel Fabritius (1622–1654), has a limited oeuvre owing to his premature death in the Delft Gunpowder Explosion of 1654. Despite only 12 years of activity, Fabritius’ ambitious, large history paintings from the 1640s differ considerably in style and execution from the smaller works he produced during his fin...

The Acrobat Family is one of Pablo Picasso's highly rated works from his Rose Period. The painting was one of the first two works by the artist acquired by the Stein’s, and in 1922 it came to Gothenburg Art Museum. In catalogues, the materials used for the work are described as a mix of gouache, pastel, watercolour and Indian ink on cardboard; howe...

The 2018 technical examination project The Girl in the Spotlight aimed to characterise the materials and techniques that Johannes Vermeer used to paint Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665, Mauritshuis). Five research questions guided the micro-and macro-scale analyses: What can we find out about layers beneath the surface? What steps did Vermeer tak...

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1665) is the most beloved painting in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Girl was last examined during a 1994 restoration treatment, within the project Vermeer Illuminated. Conservators and scientists investigated the material composition and condition of the painti...

In 1962-63, a Danish archaeological expedition excavated a group of mounds in Bahrain dated to around 2000 B.C. Among other objects, numerous fragments of decorated ostrich eggshells were unearthed. The outer surfaces of these fragments bear engravings in the form of rectangular patterns and some areas coloured in a reddish hue on a white backgroun...

Landscape painting would not exist without an exorbitant use of a large variety of greens; either in glazes or as pastose and innovative dabbing’s of paint. Will our eye compensate for the flaws in the green hues when viewing a 400 years old aged painting and will current spectators create an intellectual compensation for its lack of intensity or p...

he Danish artist Martinus C.W. Rørbye, a central igure of the Golden Age of Danish painting, worked in Italy, Greece, the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as Norway and Denmark. Based on drawings made on his travels, Rørbye executed paintings on canvas. he question arises as to whether his underdrawing technique changed over time. As a favourit...

This freely available ONLINE publication is a new English language translation with commentary of Jacqueline Marette’s "Connaissance des Primitifs par l'étude du bois du XIIe au XVIe siècle" (originally published in French in 1961) translated by Paul van Calster. It is part of the Getty Panel Paintings Initiative and was made possible with a grant...

Examination of oil paintings by artists from the so-called Danish Golden Age in the first half of the nineteenth century indicates that a significant degree of deterioration and fading has occurred in a number of cases in some of the blue coloured areas. The occurrence was initially suggested by the different appearance of the paint along the edges...

Examination of two allegedly Cranach workshop portraits of Luther and Melanchthon in St Nicolaij Church, Velje, revelas surprising underdrawing of St Jerome and Mary magdalene (?)

The painting 'View of Lake Sortedam from Dosseringen Looking towards the Suburb Nørrebro outside Copenhagen' from 1838 by the Danish artist Christen Købke was subjected to technical investigation by IR imaging techniques, cross section analysis, XRF analysis, Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDX. The genesis of the painting is described as well as the re...

Poster session presented at Gordon Research Conference, Newry (ME), USA.

The need for a quality control of Antwerp oak panels for painters in 1617 became structured with detailed regulations imposing the panel makers to issue each of their panels with the maker’s personal house mark and upon approval by the dean of the panel makers’ he with a hot iron would brand each accepted panel with the Coat of Arms of Antwerp. Thi...

Et samspil mellem kunst og kemi. I et samarbejde mellem Statens Museum for Kunst og Kemisk Institut på KU er Ramanspek-troskopi brugt til at definere sammensætningen af blandinger af blyhvidt og calcit i maleriers hvide pigmenter.

The content of this report is based on the results achieved during the EU funded project “Improved Protection of Paintings during Exhibition, Storage and Transit” – PROPAINT.The PROPAINT project (SSPI – 044254) is a Specific Targeted Research Project (STREP)within the Thematic Area 8.1. Policy Oriented Research: Scientific Support to Policies, in...

1 Introduction The use of microclimate frames for paintings during exhibition, storage and transport has become common in many European museums. The frames are used to protect the paintings physically, against externally generated pollutants and to give climate buffering. The positive effects are considered to outweigh the negative effects of a...

In 1634 Peter Paul Rubens received a commission for a large altarpiece for the abbey in Afflighem (Hekelgem, Belgium). The altarpiece, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, depicts Christ, surrounded by a crowd of soldiers and grievers, as they climb up Mount Calvary. Christ stumbles under his burden and two men come to his aid, lifting...

this paper we describe a novel chemical imaging approach in the analysis of paint cross-sections. From the results it can be concluded that a single chemical imaging technique, how ever powerful it may be, usually only provides part of the chemical information embedded in the cross-section. A cautious approach, considering several surface analytica...

Lack of information on paintings on copper in seventeenth-century Antwerp inventories gives the impression that such paintings were rare. The coppersmiths who supplied the painters with plates were organized within the blacksmiths' guild. Even though legislation on the marking of copperware was passed in 1585 and 1602, and mentions certain guidelin...

In an experimental setup, the microclimates inside two differently constructed sets of microclimate boxes (MC-boxes) were registered at different points inside and outside. The first group of MC-boxes was integrated into wooden picture frames. Glass was sealed into the rabbet of the frame with silicon adhesive and wooden strips covered with a rubbe...

Two paintings in the Winter Room, Rosenborg Castle Copenhagen, from the Sebastian Vrancx workshop or followers are discussed. Updated information is found in Gerson Digital: http://gersondenmark.rkdmonographs.nl/5.-christian-iv2019s-winter-room-and-studiolo-2013-joergen-wadum