As an increasing number of studies are demonstrating with growing clarity, the analysis of certain aspects - or more precisely, components - of paintings through the lens of their materiality can reveal crucial insights into the artwork itself. These include not only the materials in the strict sense, such as canvas, wood, or nails, but also their composition as a whole, understood as a unified entity, essential to the artwork. The workshop brings together contributions from perspectives including history, symbolism, materiality, and technical analysis.

Argument

As an increasing number of studies are demonstrating with growing clarity, the analysis of certain aspects - or more precisely, components - of paintings through the lens of their materiality can reveal crucial insights into the artwork itself. These include not only the materials in the strict sense, such as canvas, wood, or nails, but also their composition as a whole, understood as a unified entity, essential to the artwork.

Beyond the information provided by individual components and materials, as evidenced by technical analyses or studies - i.e., the RKD’s innovative research on marks found on works of art - it is also necessary to consider some clues that might be revealed by elements, often regarded as minor or of limited importance. These can enrich the study of an artwork not only from a stylistic perspective, but also from an aesthetic, or even symbolic and iconographic one.

Elements such as the decoration of the reverse, the continuity between the painted surface and the frame, the design of the frame itself - whether pictorial or sculptural - or the relationship between the work and its intended setting (for example, in terms of lighting or architecture), are part not only of the artwork, but also constitute a precious source of information. These can relate to the artist, the patron, the context of creation, the artistic and cultural environment, and the materials used and available at the time of execution, as well as the various modifications the work has undergone throughout time.

For instance, paintings and their frames, two elements that are often separated today, originally shared a closely intertwined history that conveys fundamental information about the conception, meaning, function, and materiality of the work. Subsequent separations, resulting from the passage of time and from various historical and material vicissitudes, have therefore caused not only a physical distance between elements understood as intrinsically connected, but also, in many cases, a loss of essential information. Significant research has been carried out or is currently underway, such as Bart Fransen’s study of the frame of the Ghent Altarpiece or the research recently initiated by our team at the C2RMF on the frame of the Beaune Altarpiece, and the results are often surprising.

The workshop brings together contributions from perspectives including history, symbolism, materiality, and technical analysis.

Program

Paris, Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France

Palais du Louvre - Porte des Lions, 14 quai François Mitterrand

10.00: welcome and opening Maddalena Bellavitis (C2RMF), Domitilla Giordano, TBC

10.15: presentations

• Helen Buddensieg, Princely Collections Liechtenstein, Vienna Inseparable Couple: Correggio’s Madonna of Saint Sebastian and its Wooden Support
• Andrea Steckerová, National Gallery, Prague Celebrating marriage in a frame: Gerard ter Borch’s portraits and their carved frames from the National Gallery in Prague
• Charlene Vella, University of Malta Framing Style and Patronage in the Work of Antonio de Saliba: Two Case Studies

11.30: coffee break

• Michele Castelli, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna The frame as setting: The Master of the Baroncelli Portraits in the Uffizi Gallery
• Vittorio Frighetto, Università di Padova Through the Altarpiece, and What the Devout Found There: Material and Cognitive Experience of Dieric Bouts’ Triptych of the Holy Sacrament
• Martin Hanßen, University of Jena Rethinking the Frame. Structure and Materiality of the Life of the Virgin

13.15: Discussion and conclusions

Admission

The admission is free, but those who wish to attend the workshop need to send their name to maddalena.bellavitis@culture.gouv.fr