Mixing, dipping, and fixing: the experimental drawing techniques of Thomas Gainsborough

Federica Pozzi,Caroline Tokarski,Reba Snyder,Julie Arslanoglu,Francesca Galluzzi

doi:10.1186/s40494-020-00431-x

Federica Pozzi, Caroline Tokarski + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00431-x

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Abstract

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, owns twenty-five works on paper by the 18th-century English artist Thomas Gainsborough. Scholarly publications over the past 20 years, as well as Gainsborough’s own writings, have highlighted his proclivity toward innovative methods and experimentation. In particular, a letter that the artist wrote in 1773 reveals details of his secret recipe for making oils on paper, such as his recommended use of lead white and the unorthodox practice of dipping his works in skim milk, possibly to prevent the pigments from discoloring. About a dozen of Gainsborough’s creations were included in a 2018 exhibition at The Morgan entitled Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing. On this occasion, an in-depth scientific study aimed to explore the artist’s work as a draftsman, with a special focus on his mastery of materials, his technical innovations, and his development of an original approach to drawing. Initially, a selection of artworks was examined using magnification along with transmitted and raking light to improve surface visualization and to investigate the structure of each piece. Further photographic documentation with ultraviolet and infrared light was performed to gather preliminary information on the variety of white pigments employed, on the wet and dry chalk techniques used in certain works, as well as on the possible presence of coatings and underdrawings. Subsequently, scientific analysis by means of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopies aimed at characterizing the white pigments present in The Morgan’s drawings, which mostly consisted of calcite and lead white. Moreover, a combination of advanced micro-sampling tools, i.e. polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free erasers and fine polishing films, ad-hoc sample preparation methods, highly sensitive proteomics analysis via nano-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (nano-LC/MS), and sophisticated bioinformatics data processing was employed to assess Gainsborough’s use of skim milk as a “secret fixative” on some of his works. Results have revealed the presence of specifically bovine milk in all of the samples evaluated to date. Notably, only through the combined use of such advanced technical resources can the interrogation of all milk proteins retrieved from the samples provide evidence for the presence of a milk fixative and open the discussion about milk processing methods in the 18th century. In addition to granting conservators and art historians a deeper understanding of the complexity of Gainsborough’s drawing techniques, this study paves the way for further investigations to probe the use of casein-based fixatives by other artists working on paper such as Degas and Van Gogh.

Highlights

Celebrated in his lifetime as an outstanding artist and renowned painter of portrait and rural landscapes, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) is a central figure in the history of British art and, more generally, of 18th-century art
A summary of the results obtained from visual examination, as well as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman analysis of a selection of Gainsborough drawings, is provided in Table 1, along with an indication of the sampling locations for caseinbased fixative identification with nano-LC/MS
Results of XRF and Raman spectroscopy Identification of the white pigments in a selection of Gainsborough drawings from The Morgan Library holdings was carried out using a combination of in situ, non-invasive XRF analysis and micro-invasive Raman measurements on microscopic samples

Summary

Introduction

Celebrated in his lifetime as an outstanding artist and renowned painter of portrait and rural landscapes, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) is a central figure in the history of British art and, more generally, of 18th-century art. As most artists of his generation, Gainsborough did not draw directly from nature; instead, he composed landscapes in his studio, relying on his sketches and laying out stones, branches, leaves, and soil of various colors on his work table to recreate an ideal scene. This practice allowed him to experiment with materials and create dramatic scenes using multiple media on paper, such as graphite, chalk, charcoal, oil, watercolor, and pastel. A small catalogue that contains updated descriptions of The Morgan’s works, as well as a technical study of Gainsborough’s materials and techniques as observed in The Morgan’s collection, accompanied the exhibition [1]

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