Anthony van Dyck, Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart

This pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1). The scientists employed x-ray radiography (XRR), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and x-ray diffraction (XRD)  to gain insights into the inner layers of the painting and to identify the pigments.

1 Lord Bernard’s blue satin dress: undermodelling is done in indigo in the shadows and indigo and lead white in the mid-tones. The surface was then scumbled (applying a very thin opaque layer of paint so that the underlying colour is still partly visible) with azurite and azurite mixed with indigo. Van Dyck used this technique also for the background curtain in his ‘The Balbi Children‘.

2 Lord John’s golden and brown costume: pure lead-tin yellow in the highlights and lead-tin yellow with yellow ochre, lead white and some red ochre in the mid-tones. The shadows are painted in reddish ochre with Vandyke brown and some yellow ochre and also bister or bistre (pitch-like product of heating (pyrolysis) of wood).

3 Grey and brown tones of the architectural setting: single thinly painted layers of white with varying proportions of ochres and black.

References

(1) Ashok Roy, The National Gallery’s Van Dycks: Technique and Development, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, Volume 20, 1999, pp. 80-81. Available as pdf.

(1) Ashok Roy, The National Gallery’s Van Dycks: Technique and Development, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, Volume 20, 1999, pp. 80-81. Available as pdf.

(2) Liedtke, Walter A, “Anthony van Dyck“: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 42, no. 3 (Winter, 1984–1985). Available as pdf.