Abstract
The Portrait de Suzanne Bambridge (1891) is the first oil painting executed by Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) in Tahiti. A comprehensive material study of the painting by means of MA-XRF, Raman and FT-IR techniques has been conducted to understand Gauguin’s practice. The obtained results allowed collecting unexpected material evidences, which suggest restoration and subsequent addition made by Gauguin himself. Moreover relevant compositional information has been provided that has influenced the decision-making process during the restoration of the painting as the removal of the old varnish and the overpaints, dating from undocumented past treatments, turned out to be much more complicated than expected. While X-ray radiography and multi-spectral imaging methods could not give sufficient information, overpaints and original paint layers have been distinguished through this multi-analytical approach.
Highlights
The Portrait de Suzanne Bambridge by Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) (Fig. 1), which is owned by the MRBAB/ KMSKB (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique/ Koninklijke Musea poor Schone Kunsten van België) has been going through an in-depth restoration process, made possible thanks to a campaign of crowd funding
It was not possible to determine if the detected pigments are mixed together or if they come from distinct paint layers
The concomitant presence of Ultramarine, Prussian blue and cobalt blue is compliant with the analytical studies conducted on other Gauguin’s paintings (e.g. Le Sorcier d’Hiva Oa, 1903, oil on canvas, 92 × 73 cm, La Boverie Museum, Liège, Belgium) [13], and with the blue colours ordered to Georges-Daniel de Monfreid [14, 15], who ensured the regular supply of the painting materials to the painter exiled in South Sea
Summary
The Portrait de Suzanne Bambridge (oil painting on canvas, 1891, 50 cm × 70 cm, Inv. 4491) by Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) (Fig. 1), which is owned by the MRBAB/ KMSKB (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique/ Koninklijke Musea poor Schone Kunsten van België) has been going through an in-depth restoration process, made possible thanks to a campaign of crowd funding. Cobalt blue has been positively identified by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy in two paint fragments taken from the background (see Additional file 1: Table S1). Three micro paint fragments taken from different blue shades of the background were investigated by means of micro ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.
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