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Multi-Disciplinary Complex Research to Reconsider Basic Questions on Attribution and Dating of the Last Judgment Triptych from National Museum in Gdańsk by Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling

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Heritage Wood

Part of the book series: Cultural Heritage Science ((CUHESC))

Abstract

A multi-disciplinary study of the Last Judgment triptych in the National Museum in Gdansk considers the oak support, underdrawing, paint and the interpretation of the artistic process, shedding new light on the work and its creation. Cutting-edge in situ analysis and the examination of micro-samples has been undertaken. The results demonstrate that the work had been created following the Flemish tradition of painting in the Low Countries in the second half of the fifteenth century. Dendrochronology has provided data on the earliest date for the preparation of the oak support to ca. 1460. Infrared reflectography reveals underdrawings showing that in the Christological centre of the composition there were major changes. The triptych was first attributed to brothers van Eyck, then Rogier van der Weyden, in 1843 to Hans Memling. In light of analytical results we suggest that the triptych is the posthumous completion of a work designed and composed by Rogier van der Weyden and finished by Hans Memling.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Triptych in oils on a wooden panel 78 × 63 cm (central panel), 83.3 × 26.7 cm (each side wing). Currently in the Museo Civico in Vicenza.

  2. 2.

    Conducted by Roman Stasiuk, archives of the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art (WKiRDS), Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

  3. 3.

    In the archives of the Louvre, C2RMF Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Palais du Louvre, Paris, the author found documentation of an examination of the “Last Judgment” of Rogier van der Weyden of Beaune which had been carried out in 1951.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank colleagues from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Prof. Przemysław Trzeciak for valuable comments and cooperation, and Roman Stasiuk, Piotr Zambrzycki for the tests. Thanks to many foreign collaborators for their commitment to the CHARISMA-MOLAB research campaigns: Prof. Antonio Sgamellotti, Prof. Bruno Brunetti, Dr. Constanza Miliani, Dr. Laura Cartechini, Dr. Aldo Romani, Dr. Chiara Anselmi, Dr. Brenda Doherty and Dr. Francesca Rosi of CNR-ISTM in Perugia, to Dr. Mattia Patti at the University of Pisa, Dr. Luca Pezzati of INOA, Florence. I would also like to thank Laboratorio Universitario di Nanomaterials (Luna), the Department of Physics, University of Perugia for the SEM measurements. Special thanks are due to Dr. Philippe Walter, Helene H. Rousselière, E. Van Elslande, the CHARISMA-MOLAB-FIXLAB LAMS-CNRS, Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale-UPMC-UMR of France. I would also like to expresess my thanks to scholars from Poland: Prof. Piotr Targowski.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Conservation-Restoration of Artworks, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland

    Iwona Szmelter

  2. Faculty of Fine Arts/Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

    Tomasz Ważny

  3. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Tomasz Ważny

Authors
  1. Iwona Szmelter
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  2. Tomasz Ważny
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Correspondence to Iwona Szmelter .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Austin Nevin

  2. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Malgorzata Sawicki

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Szmelter, I., Ważny, T. (2019). Multi-Disciplinary Complex Research to Reconsider Basic Questions on Attribution and Dating of the Last Judgment Triptych from National Museum in Gdańsk by Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling. In: Nevin, A., Sawicki, M. (eds) Heritage Wood. Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11054-3_11

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