Timber trade in 17th-century Europe: different wood sources for artworks of Flemish painters.
Quercus spp.
Anthony Van Dyck
Art history
Dendroprovenance
Jacques Jordaens
Panel makers
Journal
Scientific reports
ISSN: 2045-2322
Titre abrégé: Sci Rep
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101563288
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
06 Aug 2024
06 Aug 2024
Historique:
received:
05
05
2024
accepted:
26
07
2024
medline:
7
8
2024
pubmed:
7
8
2024
entrez:
6
8
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The former Spanish Netherlands experienced a period of social, cultural and economic prosperity in the seventeenth century, with Antwerp as its most important commercial and artistic centre. The era's vibrant art scene, once pivotal culturally, economically, and diplomatically, now offers invaluable insights for scientific studies on art, trade, and craftsmanship. In a study on 294 panel paintings by or related to two famous Flemish artists, Jacques Jordaens (1593-1678) and Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), we applied classical art historical techniques, archival research, dendrochronology, and the study of panel maker's and guild marks on the painting's reverse to gain insights into the precise time of tree felling, the geographical provenance of the wood, and the panel makers patronised by the painters. The majority of the paintings (~ 80%), which were subjected to a dendrochronological analysis, could be dated and the results accorded well with the concomitant art historical assessment on authorship. Besides an active and well-known Baltic timber trade which provided over 71% of all the planks examined, straight-grained oak trees were also sourced from western Central Europe (20%). Interestingly, planks from the Baltic and the Ardennes region (France/Belgium) were used together in three different paintings, likely cut apart from larger panels. Employing a multidisciplinary approach to a comprehensive painting collection by individual painters provides not only a new tool to determine a painting's date and authorship but also allows for a better understanding of the contemporary timber trade and associated craftsmanship.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39107393
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68641-y
pii: 10.1038/s41598-024-68641-y
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
18216Informations de copyright
© 2024. The Author(s).
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