Title: Saintly relationships or grounds for divorce? An examination of workshop links between two medieval polychrome sculptures
Abstract: This article employs a combined approach of technical analysis and object biographical research to reassess a 1930s art historical attribution. Two late-medieval polychrome sculptures are examined in the following case study to test a hypothesis suggested by others that they had previously been part of the same altarpiece. This hypothesis is re-evaluated by means of material investigations. Comparisons of the construction techniques and wood used are highly indicative of different workshops. In addition, painting techniques, pigments and layering structures used in the polychromy emphasise the differences between the sculptures. The sculptures’ treatment history on entry into the museum has further accentuated their differences, and has led to divergent conditions of preservation and current appearance of the sculptures. This highlights the effect that conservation treatment or lack thereof can have on an object and its interpretation. Material investigations have not been able to lend support to the theory of joint altarpiece provenance.
Publication Year: 2018
Publication Date: 2018-05-04
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
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