Towards a Historical Understanding of Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Paintings

Description

Old master paintings are presented within public collections as static objects, hanging on a wall isolated, preserved, and frozen. This current method of display concentrates on retrieving and conserving the authentic state of these paintings. As a result, nonoriginal additions made to old master paintings are often removed by art conservators, even when they were made in the past by other famous masters. Telling is the recent removal of overpaints applied by well-established masters, Lancelot Blondeel and Jan van Scorel, around 1550 to the Ghent Altarpiece – a large-scale altarpiece made about a century earlier by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. About 70% of the original surface was overpainted, and these overpaints were removed to again reveal the original form.The Ghent Altarpiece is not a unique example of an old master painting that has been altered profoundly in the past. Ample material evidence has come to light revealing that many old master paintings were altered relatively soon after their conception. Often these alterations result from damage or repairs that come with time, though sometimes these alterations were intentionally made to transform the painting's original form. These intentional alterations not only include adaptations like overpainting but also enlargements, repositioning, and deletions. Despite the abundant evidence on their existence, little interest has been shown in the historical significance of intentional alterations.This project remedies this issue by focusing on altered early Netherlandish paintings, including the Ghent Altarpiece. These paintings were produced in the Low Countries (roughly corresponding to present-day Belgium and The Netherlands) between 1400 and 1550. The project will investigate the hypothesis that intentional alterations were motivated by broader historical changes that took place during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries within Netherlandish society, including the birth of the art market, civic elite formation, and the dawn of the reformation. This hypothesis is grounded in previous findings on intentional alterations of Italian Renaissance art and of early Netherlandish illuminated manuscripts.To test the hypothesis, recently digitized datasets containing material evidence of intentional alterations of early Netherlandish paintings will be analyzed. Specifically, the aim of the analysis is to identify relationships between historical changes – economic, social, religious, and political – and intentional alterations made to early Netherlandish paintings. This project elucidates as such the significance of intentional alterations, not only as material changes, but as historical sources that further help us to understand the complex relation between art and society.