Discovery of a woman portrait behind La Violoniste by Kees van Dongen through hyperspectral imaging

Elodie Herens,Philippe Walter,Catherine Defeyt,David Strivay

doi:10.1186/s40494-017-0127-4

Abstract

Despite the fact that Kees van Dongen was one of the most famous painters of the twentieth century, only little information about his palette and his technique is available. To contribute to the characterization of van Dongen’s painting materials, La Violoniste, painted by the artist around 1922, has been analyzed by using three complementary techniques: macro X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF), Raman spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging. The elemental repartition given by MA-XRF and the results obtained thanks to Raman spectroscopy help us to complete the identification of pigments contained in La Violoniste (lead white, iron oxides, cadmium yellow, vermilion, Prussian blue, titanium white, ultramarine, a red lake, a chromium pigment and carbon black) while the results obtained via hyperspectral imaging reveal a hidden woman portrait. Besides the fact that Kees van Dongen was particularly renowned for his female portraits, this hidden composition presents stylistic similarities with the well-known portraits produced by the artist from around 1920, when he was a famous worldly portraitist. Thanks to Raman spectroscopy, visual examination and MA-XRF, we show that the original background contains ultramarine, the hidden portrait’s clothes are maybe made of the same colour as the present violinist’s dress and her face contains zinc, contrary to the violinist’s flesh which is mainly made of lead white.

Highlights

Born near Rotterdam in 1877, Kees van Dongen has taken evening classes at the Fine arts academy of Rotterdam in 1892
Lead white Iron oxide pigments Cadmium yellow Vermilion Vermilion and lead white Prussian blue, lead white and a chromium pigment Zinc oxide Lead white and titanium white Ultramarine and lead white Ultramarine and lead white Carbon black Carbon black wavelength ranges (1000–1400 nm, 1400–1800 nm, 1800–2200 nm and 2250–2500 nm), we highlight features that have nothing to do with La Violoniste artwork
Hyperspectral imaging was used to study La Violoniste painted by Kees van Dongen around 1922

Summary

Background

Violin (outer lines) Violin (inner part) Mouth Flesh colour Dress Hidden portrait Top of the piano Bottom of the piano Vase Signature shoes. Beside the fact that woman portraits were the trademark of the van Dongen’s work, the freshly discovered portrait presents striking similarities with other van Dongen’s portraits dating from his Parisian stay, and when he was a popular worldly portraitist [1]. By comparing this hidden composition with another van Dongen’s painting, La femme au chapeau vert Thanks to a first visual examination, we could highlight a bright layer underneath the violinist’s dress, at her legs level (see Fig. 5) This white layer probably corresponds to the ground layer since a white painting layer would show some impasto. We could suggest that the paint layer was reused in this specific area and that the shirt of the hidden portrait has the same color as the violinist’s dress

Results and discussion

Conclusion