The impact of new data for identification and authorship: the case of The Last Judgement, triptych from the National Museum in Gdańsk, a Northern Renaissance work, by Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling

Abstract

The triptych The Last Judgement from the National Museum in Gdansk is one of the most mysterious of the Flemish Renaissance works of the 15th century. Since the late 1960s, based on conservation research, art historians have known that another painting lays underneath the work. Until 2012-2014, however, identification and seeing all hidden image in detail has been impossible. There are no known historical sources making specific reference to the origin of this work. Its authorship has often been questioned. Since Hotho’s hypothesis of 1843, the painting is regularly attributed to Hans Memling. The earliest and only certain date in the history of the triptych is the 27 April 1473, the date when it was seized by pirates at sea during its transportation from the port of Bruges to Badia Fiesolana near Florence. As a Hanseatic spoil of war, the triptych passed to St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdansk. The artwork was analysed from a number of perspectives, ranging from a humanistic enquiry to its physico-chemical properties. It was found that the triptych was painted with a multilayer tempera-oil technique on oak support. Dendrochronological work by Tomasz Wazny showed that the oak support was prepared for painting at the end of 1460. The results of these tests facilitate a fresh approach to the dating of the work and a new interpretation of its origins. A number of scientific examinations were undertaken owing to a grant from the 7th Framework Programme in 2012-2014 in collaboration with an international group of scientists in the project CHARISMA-MOLAB and ARCHLAB. The project offered an access to most advanced EU scientific instrumentations and knowledge to enhance our research, the goal of studies at ARCHLAB in the C2RMF was to confront documents and draw a comparison of the results of The Last Judgement investigations with data of other works of Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling.This provided a number of new results based on MNIR results concerning the several stages of the artistic process. New information confirmed the thesis of the dates 1460 – instead of 1466-1467, as expressed previously – as well as three stages in the composition and underdrawing of the work; with the priming layers probably made by Rogier van der Weyden with his collaborators. It was the norm in 15th century painting workshops, while the completion of the painting and final layers were probably the work of Hans Memling (his earliest and most important achievements in his oeuvre). The results shed light on the original proto-Renaissance pedigree of 15th century Flemish painting with its identity born in the north of Europe.