Doerner Institut’s sample analyses on grounds and pigments of 19 paintings

20 September 2013 

Available as of now on The Rembrandt Database are images and reports on sample analyses performed by the Doerner Institut in Munich.

Conservator Jeanine Walcher examined and photographed the samples that were taken in the 60’s by Prof. Hermann Kühn and in the 80’s by Prof. Andreas Burmester. At the time, the studies were done under the umbrella of a large project on grounds (and to a lesser extent pigments) in Rembrandt paintings of which the results were published in Jahrbuch der Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württenberg, part 2 (1965), Maltechnik Restauro no. 82 (1976) and Maltechnik Restauro no. 83 (1977).

Available are new photographs of the samples taken in UV and bright field, results of specific types of sample analyses such as XRD (Debye-Schrerrer), slides and additional sample documentation. Prof. Kühn also contributed to the online presentation of his examinations by means of giving an interview in which he elaborated on his studies in the sixties.

The material concerns 19 paintings from 3 collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague and Alte Pinakothek/Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich. More sample documentation of paintings from other collections will be launched in stages over the course of the project.

Information about this project on the Doerner Institut’s website: here

light microscopy: capture (born digital), overall (sample), DIC (differential interference contrast microscopy), normal light, 10x (objective), March 2013, Rembrandt, The Holy Family, c. 1634, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, inv./cat. no. 1318