Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Plates bright and vivid. Some light tanning due to age. Softcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> We can still learn something of how this composition was perfected from the preliminary underdrawing on the painting itself. While some underdrawing has long been visible to the naked eye tespecially beside Christ’s right foot) until recently the only infra-red image available was an infra-red photograph taken before the painting was cleaned in 1970 and although a very beautiful and quite exten- sive underdrawing was evidently present the image was marred and obscured by old retouchings and by layers of dirt and varnish. The important role played by the newer and generally better penetrating tech nique of infra-red reflectography in the examination of the Madonna det Garofant (Figs. 3 p. 10 and 4. p.11% prompted a re-examination of the Garagh Madonna and the Saint Catherine the two paintings by Raphael in the National Gallery closest to it in date and style In addition it is now possible to produce infra-red vidicon images of greatly improved legibility by using computerised image processing to join the component details previously to obtain an image of the whole painting a mosaic had to be painstakingly assembled from individually printed photographs 7 The infra-red vidicon image of the underdrawing on the Gartvagh Madonna (Fig. 5 p. 12) is of remarkable clarity. The extreme fineness and delicacy of many of the lines suggest that they may have been drawn in metalpoint (most probably silverpoint) but given the good condition of the painting and the thinness of the lines it was not possible to sample the drawing for analysis in a few places principally where there are corrections or where a line has been strengthened and reinforced the lines appear darker and have the broken. (LL)