Restaurabits

Secrets and other curiosities

Retrato de una dama. Pier Francesco Foschi

Hidden architecture

Infrared image detail of the incision lines made by Pier Francesco Foschi in the work “Portrait of a Lady”
Detalle en imagen infrarroja de las líneas de incisión ejecutadas por Pier Francesco Foschi en la obra “Retrato de una dama”

The incisions in the architectural background of "Portrait of a Lady" are key to understanding how the space was constructed. The artist incised lines in the support to serve as a guide for the distribution of the forms and volumes of the composition.

Foschi used a sharp object to trace the lines that define the contours of the architecture. These incised lines left fine grooves in the smooth surface of the preparatory layers and, unlike if they had been drawn, continued to be visible even after he applied several layers of paint.

This procedure is highly characteristic of panel painting and can be appreciated using the raking light imaging technique, which involves illuminating the work from the side to reveal all the details hidden in its surface.  

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Detail of the gold applications in Pier Francesco Foschi's painting “Portrait of a Lady”
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The technical language of gold in painting

One of the most fascinating features of this Portrait of a Lady is how the artist uses powdered gold to highlight details in: the chain with a cross, the tiara, the rings, and the book’s gilt edges. He applied fine gold using a brush with great precision, to convey to us what these objects would really look like if they were in front of us.

 
Patent document for the fixative created by painter Luigi Chialiva
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Degas and the secret of his pastels

Underlying the technique employed in Edgar Degas’s At the Milliners is an unprecedented formula. The artist sought to master the pastel medium by creating successive layers of colour, transparencies and contrasts. To achieve this, he needed a fixative that would allow him to work without smudging the colours. But there was a problem... he did not like the fixatives available on the market because they altered the tones.
Detail of the visible image of the painting “At the Milliner's”, by Edgar Degas
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Mastery of colour in Degas

The pastel is superbly executed “At the Milliner’s”. Degas recreates the different textures of the hats and the women’s clothing, in which feathers, flowers and raffia are distinguishable, in a lively and vibrant manner using these coloured sticks. We can also see how the colours are applied in various layers without mixing, even though our eyes perceive them to be blended.
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