CHAPTER 3: Evidence of Pentimenti for the Authentication of Paintings: A Challenge for Analytical Science at the Interface with Art History
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Published:26 Oct 2018
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T. J. Benoy, W. A. Edwards, and H. G. M. Edwards, in Raman Spectroscopy in Archaeology and Art History: Volume 2, ed. P. Vandenabeele and H. Edwards, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018, pp. 31-45.
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The presence of a pentimento, underlying artwork or an underdrawing initiated during the early stages of the execution of a painting, which has been subsequently covered over by later changes in the superficial artwork, is confirmation of the originality of an artwork and has been used to differentiate between an original and a later copy. When a pentimento is also coupled with historical provenancing and analytical scientific data concerning the pigments and associated materials comprising the artwork, then the maximum amount of information is assured for an attribution. As an exemplar, the de Brécy Tondo will be discussed; an oil painting of a Madonna and Child putatively attributed to Raphael and dating from ca. 1512. Despite the available historical provenancing supported by scientific analysis and crucially the observation of several pentimenti, this is still not universally acknowledged as an original art work and study for the Sistine Madonna, which Raphael painted in 1513. The crux of the matter devolves upon the role of pentimenti and their complementarity with independent scientific analytical information in establishing the originality of an oil painting – a holistic approach which would normally assure the acceptance of the originality of the artwork concerned.