Painting Technology and Technique in Crucifixion by Pieter Coecke van Aelst’s Workshop from the Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw

Abstract

The paper presents the results of complex examinations of the painting technique in Crucifixion attributed to Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502–50) from the collection of the NMW. The authors used both non-invasive methods (visual analysis in visible spectrum, analysis of fluorescence under UV light, IR reflectography and the false colour technique, analysis of X-rays, and dendrochronology) and invasive methods (comparative analysis of the cross-sections of samples in visible spectrum, in fluorescence stimulated by UV radiation, in IR reflectography and in the false colour technique, X-ray SEM/EDS analysis, XFR emission spectrum analysis as well as microchemical tests; two samples were subjected to reflectance IR spectroscopy – FTIR). The conducted analyses have confirmed the theory proposed earlier by scholars that the painting was executed by two collaborating artists. They have permitted its more precise dating, and provided a new impulse for the study of its attribution.