Countless times over the past months of Lessons from the Low Countries research, I have made splendid discoveries. And, yesterday's was no less so. While reading the Still Lifes: Techniques and Style book where the pronk discovery developed, I found a delightful reference to a relationship between an artist’s wealth and pigment use.
Pictured on page 73 is a small still life by Abraham van Beyeren, Dutch, 1620-1690. It is done in a similar style of Willem Kalf described in my previous post, A Thimble Full. Depicted is a mysteriously dark image with a Dutch roehmer, silver platter, oysters, velvet, grapes, and leaves. Only the oysters and a partial loaf of bread contain lighter pigments with juicy flecks of sparkling highlights here and there.
The laboratory analysis shows paint cross sections of various pigment layers used by van Beyeren. Lead white, umbers, ochres, carbon black, and red lakes are a few. After further reading, I discovered this passage, "van Beyeren seems to have used better quality pigments for this painting. Good quality red lake, vermilion, realgar, lead tin yellow and pure lead white were found. The record suggests that van Beyeren's finances improved in this period (while) in the Hague: an improvement apparently reflected in this painting."
In other books, I have found references to artists and lapis. If a lapis passage is found in a painting, then it is assumed this particular artist most likely was more successful. There is no escaping the in-depth analysis done in laboratories today. Personal scenes of an artist's life from many hundreds of years ago are easily uncovered and investigated.
Dear Margaret, Yes, the available funds and the quality of expensive material was most evident with the use of Lapis Lazuli blue. This pigment was only used with very wealthy patrons and the church before the year 15oo. After this time it got much cheaper. With Duerer there is only 1 painting with the Lapis Lazuli blue. Best colorful regards Georg Kremer