Beneath Charles Blackman’s Alice in Wonderland

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   3 Apr 2024

We take you on a journey of discovery beneath the paint surface of The Blue Alice 1956-57, uncover previously hidden details, and look at the technique and materials used by Charles Blackman.

The Blue Alice is currently on display in the ‘Fairy Tales’ exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) until 28 April 2024.

‘Fairy Tales’ unfolds across three themed chapters. ‘Into the Woods’ explores the conventions and characters of traditional fairy tales alongside their contemporary retellings. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ brings together art, film and design that embrace exploratory stories of fantastical parallel worlds. ‘Ever After’ brings together classic and current tales to explore the many dimensions of love in all its complexities.

Buy Tickets to ‘Fairy Tales’
Until 28 April 2024
Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

Watch | ‘Through the Looking Glass’

Charles Blackman ‘The Blue Alice’ 1956-57

In April 1956, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic books Alice’s adventures in Wonderland 1865 and Through the Looking Glass 1872, Charles Blackman (12 August 1928-2018) began what would eventually become a series of forty-one works. This ‘Alice in Wonderland’ series was painted in Melbourne between 1955 and 1957 and completed in Brisbane in 1957.

Charles Blackman, Australia 1928-2018 / The Blue Alice 1956-57 / Tempera, oil and household enamel on composition board / 122 x 122cm / Purchased 2000. The Queensland Government’s special Centenary Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Charles Blackman/Copyright Agency

The first painting of the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ series, The Blue Alice 1956-57 (illustrated) was one of only five paintings sold at Blackman’s 1957 exhibition in Melbourne when this series was first exhibited 1. It likely retains its original frame made and designed by Martin Smith, then one of Melbourne’s leading framers 2. The Blue Alice was acquired by the Gallery in 2000, and is in fact the first painting acquired by QAGOMA this century.

It is an intriguing painting. Alice is depicted in a sleep like state with eyes closed, standing off balance on one leg and holding a bouquet of flowers. The white rabbit, a looking glass, door mice and other creatures are with her in a field of flowers devoid of perspective.

Blackman has described the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ paintings as probably the freest pictures he ever painted — they involved a process of wrestling with paint and ideas — painting them was like ‘carving them out of a tree with an axe’ 3.

Looking at The Blue Alice, you can see this process of wrestling with the paint. For example, there are various brushstrokes that can been seen under the top paint layers which do not relate to the image on the surface. X-radiographs undertaken by the conservation section by Anne Carter and Mandy Smith in 2000, revealed that the artist made many changes and iterations to the composition (Illustrated).

X-ray of ‘The Blue Alice’

X-ray of Charles Blackman The Blue Alice 1956-57

The Blue Alice appears to have started out as a painting from his earlier ‘Schoolgirl’ series. In the 1950’s Blackman had made a series of works depicting groups of schoolgirls wearing typical uniform hats and we can see in the x-ray that the main figure originally wore a hat which has been painted out. This hat sits on a previously larger head, just visible in the x-ray (Illustrated).

In the x-ray we can also see changes to Alice’s face. Originally Alice looked directly at the viewer, but in the final painted image she is seen in profile with closed eyes. Alice’s painted-out eyeball is just apparent under the closed lid of her eye (Illustrated). Blackman has cut in this side profile of Alice’s face with a dark coloured paint and filled it with flowers to camouflage this change (Illustrated).

X-ray showing hat & Alice looking directly at the viewer

Painted-out eyeball

The rabbit is completely invisible in the x-ray, however a pole is seen in its place (Illustrated), we can only guess at its significance. The pole rather than the rabbit is visible in the x-ray because it is painted in lead white which blocks x-rays from exposing the film — a heavier element to titanium white of the rabbit. The background field of flowers continues under the pole, the door mice and all the other creatures, indicating that those elements of Alice’s story were painted over an initial background of flowers. Other previous architectural features such as horizon lines are also visible in the x-ray.

Flowers extend under the rabbit

x-ray showing pole

A cross section of paint also illustrates these successive paint layers (Illustrated). Cross-sections are microscopic samples of paint removed from the edge of the painting, embedded in resin and cut to show all of the layers. This paint cross section, taken from a flower near Alice’s shoe, shows many changes in the sequence of paint layers. Looking at the cross section from the base up, we see fragments of the Masonite on which the work is painted, overlaid by the white priming layer. A sequence of more than ten paint layers of different colours follows. The final layers — blue, altered to green, then overpainted with red — complement the evidence of paint layer changes found in the x-ray.

x-ray showing a cross-section of paint

X-ray imaging clarifies some of the changes made to Charles Blackman The Blue Alice 1956-57

Conservators at QAGOMA have also explored The Blue Alice’s painting materials allowing us to understand the paint technology available to the artist at this specific time and his choices of paint media.

Like many of his contemporaries, Blackman explored the hardware store for art materials because during the late 1940s and 1950s, paints were in short supply and artist paints were expensive. When he started painting around 1949, he used tins of commercial and homemade paints on cardboard and masonite supports 4.

New commercial house paint products were on the market at this time and were advocated by high-profile artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. Sidney Nolan was well known for his use of oil-based Ripolin-branded enamel paint from the early 1940s 5 which influenced younger artists like Blackman in his exploration of luminous colour, while Ian Fairweather used water-based house paints from the mid 1950s due to his allergy to oil paint in turpentine 6.

The 1950s also saw an immense exchange of technical information among artists. Blackman describes his relationship with Arthur Boyd as an apprentice to a master, and he learned from Boyd to make his own paint — incorporating homemade paints in his medium around 1952. ‘When I started painting without money I had to make my own colours… all the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ pictures were done with home-made paint’ 7. By handmade, Blackman means that he mixed commercial pigments and binders together himself rather than buying off the shelf colours.

Analysis of microscopic scrapings of paint from The Blue Alice by conservators at QAGOMA has confirmed the artist used predominantly alkyd house paint and tube oils.

Alkyd house paints are a class of commercial solvent-based paint first developed in the 1920s, and were not available as artist paints until the 1970s. They combine drying oil with polyester resin, which enables the paint to dry quickly. The high oil content means that alkyd paint films have similar characteristics to oil paint, but can be more brittle due to the addition of resin. Alkyd house paint is fluid and generally gives a characteristic smooth, glossy surface devoid of brush marks, as seen in the medium rich titanium white alkyd paint in the white rabbit. (Illustrated) Alkyd is also the medium of the very white petals of some flowers, and here it is likely extended with solvent and bulked out with titanium white pigment, china clay and barium sulphate which makes it very white and matte (Illustrated).

Alkyd house paint in the white rabbit

Alkyd house paint in the white petals of flowers

Samples of alkyd house paint from Charles Blackman’s The Blue Alice 1956-57

Tube oil paints, in comparison are thicker and are applied with characteristic ‘impasto’ brush strokes. Impasto is seen in the petals of the flower bouquet Alice is holding (Illustrated). A sample from the white impasto of Alice’s skirt was found to be oil paint with lead and zinc white pigment, characteristic of an artist’s oil paint. These areas of lead white paint can be seen clearly under X-ray as white highlights.

The value of looking more closely at the technique and materials used to make The Blue Alice is that the story of the painting, in addition to the story we see on its surface, can evolve as we look beneath the top paint layers.

Impasto brush strokes in the bouquet

Impasto brush strokes in the bouquet of Charles Blackman’s The Blue Alice 1956-57

Anne Carter is Conservator, Paintings, QAGOMA

Endnotes
1 Paintings from Alice in Wonderland, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Tavistock Place, 12-22 February 1957.
2 Smith, Geoffrey and St John Moore, Felicity. Charles Blackman: Alice in Wonderland, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2006.
3 Shapcott, Thomas W. The Art of Charles Blackman, Andre Deutsch Ltd, London, 1989, p.24.
4 St John Moore, Felicity, Charles Blackman: Schoolgirls and Angels: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Charles Blackman [exhibition catalogue], National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993, p.17.
5 Dredge, Paula ‘A history of Australian house paint technology from the 1920s to the 1950s, with reference to its use by Australian artists, particularly Sidney Nolan’, AICCM Bulletin, vol.33, 2012, p.53.
6 Carter, Anne; Osmond, Gillian and Ormsby, Bronwyn, ‘Ian Fairweather and water-based emulsion house paints in Australia 1950–64’, AICCM Bulletin, vol.34, 2014, p.34.
7 Shapcott, Thomas W. The Art of Charles Blackman, Andre Deutsch Ltd, London, 1989, p.24.

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Laying down the lines: Isaac Walter Jenner’s underdrawing

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   12 Dec 2023

The oil paintings of Isaac Walter Jenner (1836-1902) are executed in a fine and detailed manner which invite close and careful viewing. Like many artists, Jenner used sketching or ‘underdrawing’ to develop subjects beneath oil paint layers. Here, we highlight the artist’s style and detail some of the discoveries found when we look at Jenner’s preparation for painting using infrared reflectography (IRR imaging)1.

Infrared imaging of Jenner’s paintings show that the artist most often prepared a very careful underdrawing. Generally, this underdrawing appears detailed, confident and strong, and in some cases shows evidence of grid lines and possible tracing from a pre-prepared composition.

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Hamilton Reach, Brisbane’ 1885

An early painting, Hamilton Reach 1885 (illustrated) provides an example of the artist’s intricate drawing preparation underneath the paint. We can see that Jenner has laid down complex outlining of the foliage, buildings and ships, however this is not explorative or sketchy, and given its confidence and evenness of line, appears to have been traced or reinforced over a sketch.

However, the artist does not always contain the final painted composition to the underdrawing outlines — as seen in Hamilton Reach, in the way the tree on the far left does not align with the outlines of the preparation. Here the final painted composition of the tree appears in IRR imaging as a darker shadowy image  — Jenner has decided to paint the tree larger in size than his under sketch.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Hamilton Reach, Brisbane 1885 / Oil on wood panel / 21.7 x 52.4cm / Purchased 1986 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite of Isaac Walter Jenner’s Hamilton Reach, Brisbane 1885
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail illustrating added painted composition which differs to the underdrawing in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Hamilton Reach, Brisbane 1885

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay’ 1897

Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897 (illustrated) is one of Jenner’s later paintings. It again shows beautifully resolved and confident underdrawing, especially of the distant mountain range.

Details of this painting taken at high magnification — with the camera closer to the artwork — indicate that lines may have been traced from a previous drawing and later reinforced with a hard drawing medium.

You can see in the detail of the mountain ranges where the bold drawing medium sits on top of finer underdrawing lines indicating an initial soft sketch later reinforced.

Similarly, the figures on the raft appear to have had their underdrawing reinforced.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836–1902 / Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897 / Oil on canvas / 25 x 46cm / Purchased 1990 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail of Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897
Detail of figures on the raft in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail of figures on the raft in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897

The foliage in Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897 remains sketchy and is not as well defined as it is in  Hamilton Reach, Brisbane 1885. It can also be seen that a straight edge has been used to draw the outlines of the architecture and Jenner has also added painted figures in front of the hut that do not appear in the underdrawing. This indicates that the figures were a later addition to the composition.

Detail of foliage in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail of foliage in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897

Other design features present in the final painting, but which are not evident in the underdrawing include the fisherman with boat in the foreground. Like the rescaled tree in Hamilton Reach, 1885, this figure appears as a shadowy painted addition under IRR imaging without a drawn outline. Demarcation of the water’s edge runs right through this figure — another indication that he was a later addition.

Visible light detail of fisherman with boat in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail of fisherman with boat in Isaac Walter Jenner’s Queensland natives, the Currigee Oyster Company’s Station, Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay 1897

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach’ 1894

In Jenner’s Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894 (illustrated), we see another example of a bold confident underdrawing. In this painting, some lines have become visible through thinly painted areas of light-coloured paint. For example, in visible light, underdrawing can be seen through the paint demarcating the outline of the clouds in the sky.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894 / Oil on cardboard / 12.8 x 20cm / Gift from the Estate of Dr Elizabeth (Pat) Marks through the QAG Foundation 2004. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Visible light detail of Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894
Infrared reflectography (IRR) composite detail of Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894
(left) IRR detail showing drawing under the paint (right) visible light detail of the same area in Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894

Investigation into the painting via cross section by Gillian Osmond, (Conservator, Paintings) also found evidence of the underdrawing layer between the ground and layers of paint. In this cross section (illustrated), the drawing layer can be seen as a broken dark line sandwiched between layers of light-coloured ground below and paint above. Tiny, coloured pigment particles can also be seen in this cross section mixed into the white paint and these pigment particles are what give the paint its pink colour.

Paint cross section of Brisbane River, Bulimba Reach 1894 prepared by Gillian Osmond, photographed in visible light showing the colours of the paint layers, with the underdrawing layer sandwiched between the ground below and the paint layers above.

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river’ 1894

Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river 1894 (illustrated) shows underdrawing in which Jenner’s deliberately applied lines appear ‘broken’ and perhaps show evidence of the use of an eraser to reduce their density. Fine detail such as the ends of the sawn logs showing age rings and radial splits is also evident in his preparation technique.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river 1894 / Oil on cardboard / 12.8 x 20cm / Gift from the Estate of Dr Elizabeth (Pat) Marks through the QAG Foundation 2004. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Infrared reflectography (IRR) details of Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river 1894 where applied lines appear ‘broken’
(left) Infrared reflectography (IRR) detail (right) visible light detail of the same area in Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river 1894 (right)
Visible light detail of Brisbane River, Garden Reach from near dry dock looking down river 1894

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘HMS Victory at Portsmouth’ c.1881

HMS Victory at Portsmouth 1881 (illustrated) shows evidence of a grid — visible under IRR imaging in the top right corner of the painting — this usually means that the underdrawing was copied from a sketch at a different scale. The underdrawing is also precise with emphasis on perspective and the lines appear to have been ruled using a straight edge. This demonstrates planning of the complicated patterns of masts and rigging and the detailed features of HMS Victory, including its receding sets of windows/portholes.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836–1902 / HMS Victory at Portsmouth c.1881 / Oil on academy board / 22.6 x 39.2cm / Gift of Merle Melrose Edmonds in memory of her great-grandfather, Isaac Walter Jenner, through the QAGOMA Foundation 2021 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
(left) Infrared reflectography (IRR) detail showing the use of a grid lines used to scale and transfer the underdrawing; (right) lines showing rigging that appear to have been ruled using a straight edge in HMS Victory at Portsmouth c.1881
Visible light detail of HMS Victory at Portsmouth c.1881
Infrared reflectography (IRR) detail of HMS Victory at Portsmouth c.1881

Anne Carter is Conservator, Paintings, QAGOMA

Endnote
1 How we see underdrawing – about infrared imaging.
If drawn in a carbon-based medium such as charcoal which absorbs heat (infrared radiation), underdrawing can be revealed beneath layers of paint using an infrared camera. The infrared camera has a detector sensitive to heat. Images produced through infrared camera collection are black and white and look like the drawings themselves. They are often grainy and low resolution due to the capabilities of the infrared cameras.
(IRR Images captured and compiled using a Hamamatsu Vidicon Infrared camera by Anne Carter, Mandy Smith, Natasha Harth, Gillian Osmond, Rebecca Negri, Ruby Awburn, Emily Kelleher)

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Isaac Walter Jenner’s grand history mystery

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   8 Nov 2023

Australian artist Isaac Walter Jenner (1836–1902) painted Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador in 1893 and reworked it in 1895 (illustrated). The grand history painting depicts the search led by British naval officer, hydrographer, and explorer Sir Edward Belcher (1799–1877) to rescue the ill-fated 1845 British expedition by Sir John Franklin (1786–1847) which set out to find the fabled Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The tragedy captured popular imagination during the nineteenth century.

Franklin’s two ships, the Terror and the Erebus, were last sighted by whalers in Baffin Bay just north of Cape Chudleigh, Canada. In 1852, Belcher led a search expedition, abandoned in 1854 after four of his five ships became icebound, he and most of his crew returned to England on the last ship, the North Star.

Franklin search expedition by Captain Edward Belcher 1852

Dr. William Domville (photographer) / A view across the bay towards the ships of the Franklin search expedition led by Captain Edward Belcher c. June–July 1852 / Unwaxed calotype negative / M1958/119 / Image courtesy: Historic Photographs
Captain Edward Augustus Inglefield (photographer) / HMS Phoenix, HMS Talbot and HMS Diligence at anchor in the Arctic Circle on their way northward to supply the Franklin search expedition under Captain Sir Edward Belcher c. 8–17 June 1852 / G4254 / Image courtesy: Historic Photographs

Regardless of the paintings subject matter being of historical significance, and the importance of the work to the Queensland Art Gallery’s founding Collection, of particular interest here are the birds that Jenner painted in the lower right portion of the painting (detail illustrated). As we are not that familiar with northern hemisphere seabirds, we welcome any help from twitchers and ornithologists to identify the array of birds depicted, or update us on our research.

Birds

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (detail) 1893, reworked 1895 / Visible light macro / Photograph: A Carter

Detail highlighting birds

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (detail) 1893, reworked 1895 / Oil on canvas on composition board / 76.5 x 126.9cm / Gift of the artist 1895 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador was first exhibited at the Queensland Art Society exhibition of 1893 as Cape Chudley, Labrador (illustrated). Jenner then reworked the painting before presenting it as a gift to the Queensland National Art Gallery in 1895.

Jenner’s forbidding seascape was one of three paintings donated to the Queensland National Art Gallery for its opening in 1895, the other two being R Godfrey Rivers’s Woolshed, New South Wales 1890 and Oscar Fristrom’s Duramboi 1893. Jenner explained in his letter of gift (illustrated) that the work concerned a search party led by Sir Edward Belcher that was sent to find the ill-fated 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin.

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Cape Chudley, Labrador’ 1893

Isaac Walter Jenner’s Cape Chudley, Labrador 1893 illustrated in the Royal Queensland Art Society Exhibition catalogue of 1893 p.7 No.19 / Image courtesy: Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane

Royal Queensland Art Society exhibition catalogue 1893

Royal Queensland Art Society exhibition catalogue 1893 / Image courtesy: Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador’ reworked 1895

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador 1893, reworked 1895 / Oil on canvas on composition board / 76.5 x 126.9cm / Gift of the artist 1895 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Letter from Isaac Walter Jenner to Queensland National Art Gallery 1895

Letter from Sir Isaac Walter Jenner to Queensland National Art Gallery, April 1895 of gift of Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador 1893, reworked 1895 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Taringa April 1895

Honoured Sir

I am given to understand by my friend, Mr Godfry [Godfrey] Rivers that you are taking a great interest in the formation of the Queensland Fine Art Gallery…

I am desirous as the parent of the Art Society of Queensland to offer one of my works originally exhibited at our fifth Annual Exhibition (1893)…

This picture has historical interest as having been somewhat connected with an expedition sent in search of Sir John Franklin and on account of the singular manner of return to England of one ship of the Squadron after having been abandoned 16 months previously by Sir E Belcher.

This picture is now undergoing some alterations which I trust may be an improvement…

Letter from R Godfrey Rivers to Isaac Walter Jenner 1895

Letter from R Godfrey Rivers to Sir Isaac Walter Jenner, 6 April 1895 confirming the acceptance of the painting Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador 1893, reworked 1895 , into the Collection of the Queensland National Art Gallery / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Cape Chudleigh (also known as Cape Chidley) in Canada is located on the short boundary between the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the eastern shore of Killiniq Island. It forms the northernmost point of the Labrador Peninsula and is the southern entrance to the Hudson Strait.

The painting shows a moonlit arctic landscape with its maze of translucent sea ice. Debris from storm ravaged trees and possibly parts of shipwrecks (detail illustrated) are strewn across the foreground right and the scene is eerily lit by a bright orange glow on the horizon — thought most likely to be from a ship on fire in the distance behind the iceberg (detail illustrated). An editorial in The Queenslander ‘New Pictures at the National Gallery’ on 13 April 1895 reviewed Jenner’s Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador.

The pictures presented last week to the Queensland National Gallery are now on view with the remainder of the Collection at the Town Hall, which already, it is interesting to note; bids fair to become a favourite Saturday afternoon resort of our citizens.

The picture presented by our well-known marine artist, Mr. Jenner, entitled “Cape Chudley, Labrador,” is an oil-painting representing the burning of a ship belonging to one of the Arctic expeditions in an inlet of the Polar seas. The glow of the flames and its reflections from beyond the icy promontory which hides the vessel tell the tale of disaster. The artist has enjoyed the rather uncommon advantage of being able to study Arctic scenery from Nature, as he visited the Arctic regions a number of years ago, when he was in the navy. The picture was shown at the Art Society’s exhibition in 1893, and found many admirers. It will always have a double interest, in the first place as the work and gift of an esteemed artist who was one of the earliest devotees of Art here, one of the first to kindle and most earnest to keep alive. her “sacred flame.” In the second place because of the undying interest men of English race must for ever feel in the tragic romance of the North-west Passage, and in the realm of perpetual frost.

Storm debris

Glow on the horizon

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (details) 1893, reworked 1895

Contemporary views of the coast of Labrador

Drift ice off the coast of Labrador 1864 / Images courtesy: Library of Congress
The coast of Labrador, Summer 1909 / Courtesy: Library of Congress

Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador is different in style to Jenner’s smaller oil painted landscapes but is similar in paint handling to his larger historic seascapes such as The ‘Retribution’ at Balaclava during the Crimean War 1895 where both paintings have many layers of oil paint to produce the desired dramatic effect. The highly worked surface of Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador could be the result of Jenner’s desire to replicate the various textures of the ocean and sea ice. We do know that he reworked the painting, and that he spent time constructing the scene based on his own recollections of an arctic voyage he had taken in the early 1850s as a young man on ‘a voyage to Lapland, Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen’,1 and accounts of Belcher’s journey recorded fifty years before the painting was made.

It is also interesting to note that Jenner has signed the painting in the bottom left corner — in a grand manner fitting the painting — with the treatment of his name as a three-dimensional feature with the text reflecting off the icy water (details illustrated).

Artist signature & date

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (details) 1893, reworked 1895 / Visible light macro / Photograph: A Carter

Examination by conservators at QAGOMA with infrared reflectography (IRR) reveals limited underdrawing through the layers of paint. This may be because the scene is painted on a black preparatory layer that could be obscuring the under-drawing. Begun in 1893 in his Brisbane studio 2, Jenner significantly reworked the composition in 1895, creating thicker paint layers which are less transparent to IRR. (illustrated).

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (detail) 1893, reworked 1895 / (L to R) IRR; and visible light macro

The birds

A colony of flying seabirds with black tipped wings and black hooked beaks are evident in the painting, and there are also large groupings of standing birds — perched like bedraggled survivors — on rocks and icebergs dwarfed by the icy terrain. These birds at first appear penguin-like, standing upright with white chests, however penguins are not native to Canada and are only found in the Southern Hemisphere, concentrated on Antarctic coasts and sub-Antarctic islands.

These spectator birds have previously been described as Great Auks (Pinguinus impennis) (illustrated). The Great Auk is a large black-and-white penguin-like bird 75-85cm in length with short wings and a black hooked beak, however, by 1844 it had been hunted to extinction. Although the birds depicted in Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador show physical and social similarities to the Great Auk, they were extinct by the time of the expedition and when Jenner sailed past in 1850.

Looking more closely at the birds with the aid of a stereo microscope, we can see that they are painted to include vivid red throats (detail illustrated) — a characteristic that is absent from the Great Auk. They appear more typical of the migratory aquatic bird, the Red Throated Loon (Gavia stellata) (illustrated). This Loon is a smaller bird than the Great Auk, measuring 55-67cm in length and is a typical inhabitant of the Arctic regions, wintering in the northern coastal waters.

Jenner’s birds have the Loon’s distinctive reddish throat patch, which becomes apparent during its summer mating season — this breeding plumage would thus place the depiction of the scene into the summer season. Some views of the birds show their speckled backs (detail illustrated), this characteristic inspiring the red throated loon’s Latin scientific name epithet ‘stellata’ meaning ‘set with stars’ or ‘starry’.

Vivid red throats characteristic of the Red Throated Loon

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (detail) 1893, reworked 1895 / Visible light macro / Photograph: A Carter

Great Auk (extinct), & Red Throated Loon

(L to R) Great Auk; & Red Throated Loon

Mystery to be solved

There are some questions regarding the depiction of the various birds. The Red Throated Loons standing upright in groups on icebergs during its breeding season is one possible anomaly — perhaps the Loons in Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador are drawn from awkwardly taxidermied museum specimens or historical prints? The Loon in its natural habitat is renowned for its inability to walk and its clumsiness on land, due to the position of its feet close to the back of its body.

Most modern depictions show the Red Throated Loon swimming or in the water, not perched on sea ice. The short wings depicted are also reminiscent of the Great Auk, rather than the larger wings of the Loon, though perhaps the birds have just started their late summer wing moult, which renders them unable to fly. Or perhaps Jenner used artistic licence and combined the characteristics of various birds.

What do you think? We also need help to identify some of the other birds depicted — those flying with a larger wing span with black tips, and smaller birds standing next to the Loons (details illustrated).

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Cape Chudleigh, Coast of Labrador (details) 1893, reworked 1895 / Visible light macro / Photographs: A Carter

Anne Carter is Conservator, Paintings, QAGOMA
Additional research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

Endnotes
1 From a diary entry written from Jenner held in QAGOMA Research Library (undated) : “As to my own career having had a spell at a host of different callings without making any headway, I put to sea in Oyster and crab ….. first then in a vessel bound for Lapland and Nova Zumbla getting blown to Spitzberger, coming home in the early fifties joined the navy was through the Crimean War in Black Sea and Baltic also at the Bombard – “
2 Isaac Walter Jenner’s Brisbane studio was at Montrose Road, Taringa from 1890 referenced in Margaret Maynard ‘Jenner Isaac Walter (1837–1902)’ Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983. Online edition https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jenner-isaac-walter-6838 viewed 3/11/2023

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Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   17 Oct 2023

Large scale paintings from Queensland’s Colonial period are extremely rare. Currently on display in the Australian Art Collection (Gallery 10, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries) at the Queensland Art Gallery is an oil painting that has recently been conserved while research into a replica frame have brought it back to its former glory. This is the first of a two part focus on Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, a partner to another work by the artist in the QAGOMA Collection Heron’s home.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos by Anthony Alder (1838-1915) dated c.1895 (illustrated) shows a male and female pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii), also known as Banksian or Banks’ Black Cockatoo, native to Australia and found in eucalyptus woodlands or along water courses. This species has disappeared from much of its former range in northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland.

Alder was the eighth of ten children, his father, Anthony Alder Snr, was a taxidermist and his mother Elizabeth Arundell was a naturalist. Alder trained in the family’s taxidermy and casting business ‘Alder and Company’ in Islington, London before he arrived in Brisbane in early 1862, and probably worked for the taxidermy business ‘Arundell and Alder’ before travelling to Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland in 1864, where he spent some time collecting specimens.

Alder was the most prominent taxidermist in colonial Queensland and from 1907, was widely admired for his dioramas which he painted for the Queensland Museum when it occupied the Exhibition Building (illustrated). While taxidermist to the Museum he created (and painted) several dioramas which remained on display until the old Museum building closed in November 1985, before moving to the Cultural Centre. 

He also contributed a series of illustrations of birds to the Queenslander (illustrated) and was regarded as most important Australian painter of birds after Silvester Diggles (1817-80). 

ARTWORK STORIES: Delve into QAGOMA’s Collection highlights for a rich exploration of the work and its creator

ARTISTS & ARTWORKS: Explore more works by Anthony Alder in the QAGOMA Collection

DELVE DEEPER: Go behind-the-scenes as we reframe ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’

Anthony Alder (Standing 3rd from the right)

The staff of the Queensland Museum, 1912. (Standing L to R): ‘Chips’ Greensill, attendant/carpenter; William Baillie, attendant; Henry Hacker, entomologist; Eileen Murphy, stenographer; Clarice Sinnamon, librarian; Anthony Alder, taxidermist; Benjamin Harrison, chief attendant; E. Varey, attendant. (Seated L to R): Heber A. Longman, assistant scientist; Ronald Hamlyn-Harris, director; James Douglas Ogilby, ichtyologist. Reclining: Tom Marshall, cadet / Image courtesy: Queensland Museum, Brisbane

The (Old) Queensland Museum (Exhibition Building)

Queensland Museum, corner Gregory Terrace and Bowen Bridge Road, Brisbane c.1901 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Illustrations of birds in the ‘Queenslander’ by Anthony Alder

Illustrated from the Christmas supplement of The Queenslander, December 8, 1906, p. 61 / Collection: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos entered the QAGOMA collection in 2014 after spending some time stored in a shed in the Warwick region of Queensland (160km west of Brisbane). Likely from its time, the painting was subject to extremes of climate and accessible to animals as the paint surface had extensive dirt and bird droppings, the paint was generally cracked while some paint was lost. The painting had been varnished, however the varnish had become very yellowed, uneven and brittle and desiccated from age. Luckily, there was no damage to the canvas nor the painting’s stretcher, and on arrival at the Gallery, the work was received framed in its slip only — the outer decorative part of the frame was missing.

Before conservation: ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’ 1895

Anthony Alder, Australia 1838-1915 / (Red-tailed Black Cockatoos) (Before conservation) c.1895 / Oil on canvas / 90.7 x 70cm / Purchased 2014. QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

The painting showed excessive drips, as you can clearly see, and the white strip in the center of the painting is primer where the paint has been lost due to corrosion. Bird droppings are very acidic (pH 3.5 to 4.5), the (mostly) uric acid initially begins to burn and etch the paint’s surface, the longer it remains, the greater the damage. Dirt and discolouration can also be seen in the sky.

The reverse of ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’

The reverse of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (illustrated) shows us the artist used unprimed cotton canvas tacked to a key-able stretcher, dirt and insect droppings can also be seen. A major part of the restoration involved initial cleaning of the painting before the varnish and other dirt layers could be removed. Cleaning was carried out under the microscope (illustrated) and different cleaning systems were used for different types of droppings.

Cleaning was carried out under the microscope

Conservator, Anne Carter working under the microscope

Detail of insect droppings

Detail of insect droppings. Note how the insect droppings have affected the paint – etching it away.

Droppings being removed

As the painting had been varnished, some droppings could be mechanically removed by carefully breaking them and pushing them off the varnish using a very tiny scalpel.

Use of conservation gels

Other droppings were very hard and required the use of conservation gels and other techniques to make them soft enough to remove.

Damage to the paint

Damage to the paint can be seen in the black of the cockatoo’s feathers, the paint has been etched away.

White uric acid

Near the artist signature, droppings on the paint surface show the white uric acid as a perimeter of white around the dark dropping. Fortunately these could be removed without any damage to the underlying paint.

Paint eaten away

In long streaks, droppings had also caused damage, where the paint was eaten away revealing the white ground of the painting, as can be seen in the details of the feathers.

Residual droppings

Under the microscope, in close up of around 20x magnification, you can see residual droppings (brown) on the left, and then an area where the droppings have fallen off and taken paint with them (right). Residual droppings had to be very slowly and carefully removed so as to not dislodge any more paint during the cleaning process.

Age cracking

Age cracking can also be seen, together with tiny paint losses. This type of paint cracking can be exacerbated by exposing an oil painting to fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity as the canvas support is flexible and can swell and contract as the humidity changes, but as the paint is less flexible, it cracks.

Cracking

Cracking is most obvious in areas of high canvas tension such as the corners, as seen here in the top right corner before treatment.

Varnish removal

Once all the dirt and droppings were taken off, the discoloured varnish layer could be removed using solvents, the varnish removal has begun in the top right corner, revealing a bluer sky under the yellow varnish.

Conservation grade varnish applied

Once all the dirt and varnish was removed, a new conservation grade varnish was applied to the surface by brush to saturate out all the colours. This is done with the painting lying flat.

Re-integration of the paint losses

Once the varnish has set, re-integration of the paint losses is undertaken using a tiny sable brush and conservation grade resin and dry pigments. Pigments are mixed to match the colour and gloss of the original paint. This in-painting is fully reversible as it is soluble in solvents that do not affect the paint layers.

Once the in-painting is completed, another layer of varnish is sprayed on so that the black cockatoos become gloriously glossy and saturated again. The age cracks in the paint within the sky are not reversible, but the paint is now stable and the painting is ready for its new frame and for display.

The moral of the story is that it’s not such a good idea to leave your oil paintings in a shed where temperatures can be extreme, and if you do need to store them, its best to wrap them safely to avoid any damage.

Anne Carter is Conservator, Paintings, QAGOMA

After conservation: ‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’ 1895

Anthony Alder, Australia 1838-1915 / (Red-tailed Black Cockatoos) (After conservation treatment with new frame) c.1895 / Oil on canvas / 90.7 x 70cm / Purchased 2014. QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

‘Red-tailed Black Cockatoos’ is on display in the Queensland Art Gallery’s Australian Art Collection, Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Galleries (10-13).

Featured image: Once the varnish has set, re-integration of the paint losses is undertaken using a tiny sable brush and conservation grade resin and dry pigments. Pigments are mixed to match the colour and gloss of the original paint. This in-painting is fully reversible as it is soluble in solvents that do not affect the paint layers.

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Go behind-the-scenes as we conserve Ian Fairweather’s paintings

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   2 Aug 2021

In 1957, artist James Gleeson, then art critic at The Sun newspaper, wrote that the paintings of Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) would never last.1 Reputedly using whatever materials came to hand within his itinerant lifestyle, the paintings of Fairweather are renowned as much for their fragility as their beauty, and this is part of their appeal.

Fairweather lived and painted on Bribie Island over a period of 21 years from 1953 until his death — he was 60 when he settled in a grass hut in the bush, lit only by hurricane lamps, on the smallest and most northerly of three major sand islands in Moreton Bay, just an hour’s drive from Brisbane.

Ian Fairweather painting in his studio

Ian Fairweather painting in his studio on Bribie Island, 1972 / National Archives of Australia: A6135, K24/11/72/1

Materials

From 1958 Fairweather developed his late style using ‘plastic paints’ — in 1963 he recounted that he mostly used powder colour and poly vinyl acetate (PVA)2, however very little has been published on Fairweather’s materials and there is almost no reported medium analysis.

An initial examination of Fairweather’s late works in our collection revealed unstable paint and altered paint surfaces, with many artworks requiring reframing — as was with a previous treatment carried out on Head 1955. In order to plan a conservation approach to treat these paintings the QAGOMA’s Conservation section commenced a study to investigate materials and to develop suitable mounting and framing techniques.

Ian Fairweather ‘Punch and Judy’

View of an area of lifting paint on Punch and Judy 1964. Previous application of glue in an unsuccessful repair is visible as shiny excess around the paint crack

Consolidating the surface

Ian Fairweather, Scotland/Australia 1891-1974 / Punch and Judy 1964 / Synthetic polymer paint and gouache on cardboard on composition board / 73 x 95cm / Gift of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2012. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency

Ian Fairweather ‘Alpha’ 1951

Detail top left corner of Alpha c.1951 showing the fragile paint surface

Ian Fairweather, Scotland/Australia 1891-1974 / Alpha c.1951 / Gouache on cardboard / 75.6 x 50.1cm / Gift of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2012. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Ian Fairweather/DACS. Copyright Agency

RELATED: Ian Fairweather

The story of Fairweather’s material use is long and complex. He formally trained at the Slade School in London, and his early works contain leached oil mediums. He began to avoid using oil paint in the late 1930s due to an allergic reaction. Thus, from 1939, he was looking for water-based matt and bodied paint.3 Suitable commercially available paints at this time would have included artist watercolours and gouache, decorator paints including casein and distemper, and poster colours made from cellulose. — water based synthetic paints were not yet available. War rationing and poverty would have also affected his material choices as interviews and letters describe his use of unusual materials from the 1940s until 1958, for example, soap, casein, Clag Paste and Reckitt’s Blue washing agent are mentioned.4 Paintings from this period are among the most fragile of Fairweather’s oeuvre.

Paint analysis was undertaken through the QAGOMA Centre for Contemporary Art Conservation utilising fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for initial characterisation, as well as ultraviolet light imaging (UV), infrared red reflectography (IR) and industry research. A material theory that is being investigated is that of Murray Bail who proposed that Fairweather only started painting his late larger paintings from 1958 when water based dispersions were available to him.

Ian Fairweather ‘Bus stop’ 1965

Visible light / Ian Fairweather, Scotland/Australia 1891-1974 / Bus stop 1965 / Gouache on cardboard on board / 72.5 x 97.5cm / Gift of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2012. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Ian Fairweather/ DACS/ Copyright Agency

View of Bus stop 1965. UV illumination shows the autofluorescence of colours and medium. The brigh pink fluorescence is likely to be alazarin crimson in patches and the purple reflectance shows titanium based pigments in the grey and white paint.

Research to date has revealed the earliest use of synthetic polymer in a painting from 1956, this being an oil modified alkyd paint which is likely to be solvent based. Material analysis supports his predominant use of poly vinyl acetate from 1959, but also revealed his continued use of alkyd as well as a yet uncharacterised paint media. FTIR analysis of media from pre 1956 paintings has proved difficult with samples not identifiable due to the paint being under bound. However, a significant finding is that Fairweather was not exclusively using water based paints at this time.

Ian Fairweather ‘Trotting race’ 1956

Paint cross section from Trotting race 1956 showing the mixtures of pigments and fillers which make up the paint. The binder has been characterised as oil modified alkyd, Photographed (x40 magnification)

Ian Fairweather, Scotland/Australia 1891-1974 / Trotting race c.1956 / Gouache on cardboard / 57 x 50.6cm (irreg.) / Gift of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Foundation for the Arts through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2011. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Ian Fairweather/ DACS/ Copyright Agency

Fairweather’s technique continues to elude a simple understanding. He was an artist whose work, including the palette, was directly influenced by the availability of materials. This initial research confirms that the fragility of his paintings varies enormously depending on their date, the support, the type of paint materials used and environmental and conservation history. Even though the late paintings are more robust than works from the 1940s and early 1950s, the way Fairweather used paint, what he added and how he adjusted the medium has not rendered all late paintings inherently stable.

Mounting

Two techniques have been developed to prepare Fairweather’s paintings for display.  Both techniques — cradle mounting and sink mounting — have been designed to manage the fragile nature of the artworks.

An assessment of our Fairweather paintings revealed that most of the painted surfaces extended to the edges of the supports. Some artworks were also found not square and others with quite irregular edges — interestingly, in numerous paintings the artist has used a painted border as a framing device.

The main objectives that were addressed in developing new mounting techniques were:

  • To reduce the impact of the frame on the delicate, vulnerable edges of the paintings
  • To ensure that the frame glazing never comes in contact with the paint surface
  • To reveal as much of the painted surface as possible, given that the artist frequently painted up to the very edge of the support
  • To create a sound working edge for framing

To prepare paintings that have been adhered to Masonite for framing, wooden Western Red Cedar ‘cradles’ were manufactured measuring 1cm larger on all sides than the artworks. The artworks were then carefully attached to the cradles using a Velcro system. When a painting is attached, the cradle acts as a ridged auxiliary support taking the distributed weight and pressure of the frame away from the delicate edges of the painting support and the paint film at the edges.

Ian Fairweather ‘Bus stop’ 1965

The verso of Bus stop 1965 being prepared for mounting. Removable Japanese tissue tabs are adhered in locations where Velcro will later be attached. The cradle is in the background and in this case required a plywood insert that fits within previously attached Masonite corners on the verso of the artwork

Paintings on paper supports, such as cardboard and newspaper that have not been adhered to solid secondary supports are some of the most vulnerable to paint cracking and damage, this is because the paper support responds to changes in humidity and temperature by cockling and bending. The paint layers are not as flexible as the paper support and consequently can crack — these works are also difficult to handle as the paper is flexible and the paint is not.

Preparation of these works for framing required the use of thick acid free cardboard auxiliary supports, attached using Japanese tissue tabs and starch paste. In a similar method to the cradle, the cardboard was larger all the way around the perimeter of the artwork, allowing the cardboard support to take the pressure of the frame. Once tabbed to a cardboard support, the works on paper were fitted with a sink mount. A sink mount is a surrounding edge of cardboard that is high enough to allow for any dimensional changes in the paper, essentially the sink mount acts as a spacer to keep the glazing from touching the paint surface.

Ian Fairweather ‘Trotting race’ 1956

Trotting race 1956 detail showing rim of sink mount protecting the fragile painting

Framing

Fairweather left the choice of selecting picture frames for his paintings to others. Very little information is available in regard to the way in which Fairweather envisaged how his paintings would be framed or displayed. All of his artworks were sent to dealers or galleries unframed thus entrusting the decision of selecting profiles, styles and finishes to a second party. The main sources of information documenting the styles of picture frames used on Fairweather’s paintings exist mainly in exhibition installation photographs, oral records or on paintings in both public and private collections.

The frame styles used on these artworks were contemporary to the period. The picture framing industry of the early to mid-20th century was vastly different to that of the 19th century with the use of gold leaf and carved or applied ornament being replaced with painted finishes, plain mouldings and linen slips. There was a shift towards simplicity of design throughout the 20th century away from earlier heavier styles of the preceding centuries.

Technological advancements in manufacturing techniques and materials influenced architecture, interior design and consequently picture frames. Gold leaf, the traditional finish on picture frames for centuries, was being replaced with other decorative surface finishes such as aluminum and silver leaf, painted and textured finishes, the use of fabrics and natural finishes sealed with polishes or wax, all designed to harmonize with modern interior spaces.

Mid-20th century modern design introduced profiles and shapes to picture frame mouldings that retained some elements of historical framing vernacular while eliminating all forms of applied ornament, thus exposing the frame’s simple structure. Original period frame styles found on artworks by Fairweather epitomize this modern aesthetic, consisting of simple linear mouldings, usually one, two or three sections of varying profiles either used individually or in combination.

Picture frame mouldings were constructed locally from native and imported species of timber, mostly from the Araucaria genus, such as the local Hoop pine. These mouldings were purchased ‘in the raw’ — having no finish — directly from the manufacturer with the mouldings then being cut to size. The frames were mostly painted with colours selected by dealers to harmonize with the tonal values of paintings or left in the raw, being either waxed or polished — occasionally combinations of the two finishes can be found on a frame. Throughout Fairweather’s artistic career the mid-20th century modern aesthetic influenced the way in which his paintings were housed and ultimately the way in which they were presented to the public.

Following research into frame styles for the QAGOMA collection of Ian Fairweather paintings, the Conservation Framer designed and manufactured 10 frame sample profiles and finishes to suit his paintings. A selection of these profiles were then used to craft reproduction frames for the Fairweather paintings on display.

Anne Carter is Paintings Conservator, QAGOMA
Samantha Shellard is Paper Conservator, QAGOMA
Robert Zilli is Conservation Framer, QAGOMA

1 Gleeson, James. ‘An artist minus a soul: Fine work spoilt’. Sun, 20 November 1957.
2 26 Nov 1965 transcripts of interview between Hazel de berg, Bribie Island, National Library of Australia. Quoted in Bail, Murray. Fairweather. 2nd edn., Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009. p265
3 26 Nov 1965 transcripts of interview between Hazel de berg, Bribie Island, National Library of Australia. Quoted in Bail, Murray. Fairweather. 2nd edn., Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009.  p265.
4 Bail, Murray. Fairweather. 2nd edn., Murdoch Books, Sydney, 2009. p266

A selection of frame sample profiles designed for the paintings of Ian Fairweather in the QAGOMA collection

A selection of Ian Fairweather’s works are on permanent display in the Australian Art Collection, Queensland Art Gallery (QAG)

Featured image: Looking for clues to date the works

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Secrets revealed: The Master of Frankfurt

 
Posted by Anne Carter   ●   20 Jul 2020

The Master of Frankfurt’s Virgin and Child with Saint James the Pilgrim, Saint Catherine and the Donor with Saint Peter c.1496 is a small Netherlandish devotional panel dating from the end of the fifteenth century, the oldest European work in the Collection.

The identity of Flemish Renaissance painter The Master of Frankfurt is unknown, however he is defined as the artist who painted the Saint Anne Altarpiece for the Dominican Church in Frankfurt, consecrated in 1492. Although his name suggests otherwise, he is firmly associated with the Guild of St Luke and the city of Antwerp. Possible identities for the artist are Conrad Fyol, Hendrik van Wueluwe or Jan de Vos, with van Wueluwe seen as the most likely candidate. He is one of many anonymous artists identifiable by their painting style but not by name.

DELVE DEEPER: Read more about our Conservation projects

The Master of Frankfurt, The Netherlands 1460 d.c.1520-c.33 / Virgin and Child with Saint James the Pilgrim, Saint Catherine and the Donor with Saint Peter c.1496 / Oil on oak panel / 69 x 55.2cm / Purchased 1980 with funds from Utah Foundation through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

The scene illustrates a ‘holy conversation’ portraying the Virgin and Child with selected saints. St Catherine is receiving a wedding ring from the infant Jesus who sits on the Virgin’s knee. St James the Pilgrim kneels behind St Catherine. A donor, who likely paid for the painting, sits at the prayer desk turning the pages of a Book of Hours. St Peter stands behind him and a small dog gazes faithfully at the donor.

Elaborate religious iconography is signified by simple elements of the painting; for example, the dog indicates faithfulness and the daisies, purity. This language and the identity of each saint would have been easily understood by a contemporary audience.

Conservation findings: X-radiography

The painting though in good condition has obviously undergone several major restorations in its history. The oak panel has been thinned down to approximately 5mm, cradled and impregnated with wax on the reverse. The cross-braces of the cradle can be seen on the X-radiograph of the panel.

X-Radiograph

Initial technical analysis of this painting using X-radiography 1 revealed that the male donor seated at the prayer desk was originally a woman. The X-ray image shows the veil and head of the original female donor or saint underneath the head of the current donor. A 1902 exhibition catalogue described the male donor wearing a man’s black coat with white fur trim. This black coat has now disappeared, most likely removed as ‘overpaint’ during a past restoration, revealing a woman’s brown gown. Now a man’s head remains on a woman’s gowned body.

X-Radiograph and colour overlay

Infra-red reflectography

Infra-red2 study of this painting shows that the initial underdrawing is quite different from the painting we see on the surface. This is an exciting discovery as paintings from the late fifteenth century usually show little deviation from their careful underdrawing. Old master oil painting technique involved the build up of transparent layers of paint on a reflective white ground, and changes were avoided as they could be seen through the layers above.

It appears that the figure seated at the prayer desk was originally accompanied by St Joseph and St Cornelius. St Joseph has become St James the Pilgrim by overpainting his bare head with a shaggy hat and scallop shell, removing his shoes and adding a long staff. By overpainting his horn with a key, St Cornelius has become St Peter. As the donor figure changed, so did the symbolism of the whole painting. The identity of the original donor is not yet known, but ongoing research may answer this pivotal question.

As well as highlighting changes to the symbolism within the painting, the infra-red reflectogram illustrates the underdrawing style. The lines are generally confident and fully resolved with no searching for contours evident. This suggests tracing from an existing pattern and, given that the Master of Frankfurt managed a busy studio, this is likely.

Studies of other underdrawings by the Master of Frankfurt reveal that he usually used a brush rather than dry charcoal, which appears consistent with the Gallery’s painting. Other consistent stylistic traits include the folds in the drapery being drawn with straight lines; parallel marks for areas of shadow; and the use of two simple lines indicating eyes, lips and a nose, with the upper lip given as a broad stroke. This information is critical to placing the work authentically in the late fifteenth century and to the studio of the Master of Frankfurt.

Infra-red reflectogram

Ultra-violet light imaging

An inspection under ultra-violet light 3 reveals splits in the panel and dark areas of retouching, probably from a 1959 restoration.

Ultra violet image

Paint cross-section analysis

A paint sample the size of a pin-head was taken from the edge of the panel near St Peter’s glove for paint cross-section analysis 4. Looking at the cross-section from the bottom up, the thick white ground layer was found to consist of calcium carbonate which is typical of a fifteenth-century Netherlandish chalk ground. Usually the drawing layer is directly on top of the ground, as we see in this cross-section. The thin black line above the ground consists of carbon black. There is usually a very thin oil priming layer on top of the ground and underdrawing so that the underdrawing remains visible. As we see in this cross-section there appears to be a thin white layer consisting of lead white and calcium carbonate above the drawing layer. The blue layer above this is the image layer and is mostly likely to be azurite. The layers above are probably later restorations.

Conclusion

Physical evidence of pentimenti (a visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint where the artist has changed their mind) is a rare and always fascinating find. Research has highlighted changes previously invisible, allowing a reassessment of the iconography of the panel. Particularly important is the detail now available of the underdrawing line. Distinction of the possible use of a brush and some freehand drawing implies variance from a speedily traced pattern, and gives some credence to part of the drawing being undertaken directly by the Master of Frankfurt.

John Hook is former Senior Conservator, QAGOMA
Anne Carter is Conservator, Paintings, QAGOMA
Mandy Smith is Senior Conservation Technican, QAGOMA

All infra-red imaging was undertaken by Mandy Smith (Senior Conservation Technician QAGOMA). This presentation is based on research by John Hook (former Senior Conservator, Paintings) who examined this painting using X-radiography and infra-red photography, prepared all paint cross sections and discovered most of the changes described. Research collated by Anne Carter. This blog is an edited extract from Carter, Anne (2005) ‘Donors and saints: An examination of a panel by the Master of Frankfurt’ Melbourne Journal of Technical Studies in Art, Vol 2, Underdrawing, Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, The University of Melbourne

Glossary
1 X-radiography | X-rays are the part of the electromagnetic spectrum invisible to the eye and useful for mapping materials of different atomic weight. The larger the atoms from which a material is made, the whiter that material appears on an X-ray film. X-rays are particularly useful for imaging lead white design areas in paintings, and metal armature inside sculpture. There are conservators licensed to undertake radiography of art works at QAGOMA.
2 Infra-red reflectography | Infra-red energy is heat, and it occurs at wavelengths longer than 760 nanometres – just beyond red in the electromagnetic spectrum. Infra-red imaging relies on the selective absorption of heat by pigments and is most useful for detecting underdrawing. Many earth-based pigments (for example, charcoal in drawing layers) are visible using an infra-red detector. At the Gallery we use a Hammamatsu Vidicon™ system.
3 Ultra-violet photography | Ultra-violet light is short wavelength energy, just beyond violet in the electromagnetic spectrum and invisible to our eyes. Many materials show autofluorescence when exposed to ultra-violet light. Aged natural resin varnishes characteristically fluoresce a greenish colour, and new oil paint remains dark under ultra-violet light, so the placement of new additions on top of old varnish can often be detected using ultra-violet inspection.
4 Paint cross-section analysis | Sometimes it is possible to remove a small chip of paint from the edge of a painting using a microscalpel. This chip of paint (usually less than ½ mm in diameter) can be embedded in polyester resin and cut through as a cross-section to reveal important information about paint layers, the artist’s technique, and the age of pigments used. These samples can be analysed using optical microscopy in normal light and ultra-violet illumination and imaged up to 100 000x using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Inorganic pigment analysis can be undertaken using energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) through the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Various organic analysis methods including fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) are also available.

Delve deeper into the collection

attrib. to Lucas Cranach the Elder, Germany 1472-1553 / Three Apostles (a fragment of a larger work) c.1515-20 / Oil on wood panel / 27.6 x 40cm / Purchased 1983 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Infra-red reflectography

Ultra-violet light imaging

Lucas Cranach the Elder

attrtib to Jan Provoost, Flanders b.c.1465-1529 / The Annunciation 1520 / Oil on wood panel / 52 x 24.5cm / Bequest of Gwyneth Jane Hulsen in memory of her late husband, Heinrich Hulsen 1995 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Ultra-violet light imaging

Jan Provoost

Featured image: X-Radiograph
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