Description
CHARACTERISING THE PAINTING MATERIALS AND METHODS OF VILHELM HAMMERSHØI: A COMBINED TECHNICAL AND ART HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION:The Vilhelm Hammershøi Digital Archive (ViHDA) project, a 5-year research study launched in 2020, is being carried out by a cross-disciplinary team of scientists, paintings conservators, imaging specialists, art historians and digital experts at the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK). In collaboration with Danish and international museums, as well as private collectors holding works by the renowned Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916), the project undertook a systematic visual, technical and scientific examination of nearly 150 paintings by the artist. In spite of his growing international reputation, prior to the present project very little was known about the techniques and materials used by Hammershøi. This research aimed to map the characteristics and development of his choice of materials and working methods through detailed visual examination, technical imaging and chemical analyses. To manage the extensive technical and art historical data collected, a relational database was designed to structure metadata, images, text and observations, enabling comprehensive searches across the rich dataset. This presentation focuses on canvas thread count data derived from X-ray imaging of Hammershøi’s paintings, in combination with chemical data from their preparatory layers acquired using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDXS). When applied to the results, an innovative data mining technique based on self-organising maps and hierarchical cluster analysis (SOMHCA) [1] helped uncover patterns and clusters that offer new insights into Hammershøi’s working methods. The SOMHCA examination of his canvases and preparatory layers identified several categories of weaves and ground layers, each with a unique structure and pigment composition. By combining this technical data with art historical research, including aspects such as the dates of creation, provenance and motifs of the paintings, questions about Hammershøi's production, methodological progress, and material preferences and access could be explored. As an example, a group of paintings known to have been created while Hammershøi resided in Paris from October 1891 to March 1892 is clearly distinct, featuring a unique combination of a relatively dense canvas weave and a calcium-based ground composition, which indicates his adaptability to local resources. Similarly, the weave types observed in canvases of Hammershøi’s later works proved to be different from those found in his earlier production, exhibiting a basket-like, less dense structure, suggesting a change in suppliers. These results not only shed new light on the genesis of Hammershøi’s works, his artistic development and material choices, but also serve as a valuable tool for assessing the condition of his paintings. Upon completion of the project, all data collected during the research will be publicly available through an open-access digital archive, which will include thousands of high-resolution downloadable images as well as an image viewer designed for comparing technical images and chemical maps.
| Period | 6 May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Technart 2025: International Conference on Analytical Techniques for Heritage Studies and Conservation. |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Perugia, ItalyShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |