9.5 Conclusion
This paper deals with the preliminary results of a research project into the working methods of Michael Sweerts. Even though our knowledge about Sweerts and his materials and techniques has grown over the last decades, still a lot of questions remain. By means of MA-XRF scanning, we have gained additional insights into his working practices. We learned that Sweerts’ use of pigments remains rather consistent throughout his career, although he seemed to have a slight preference for more expensive pigments while in Italy. In his Italian paintings, expensive pigments like ultramarine, lead-tin-yellow and vermilion were found in larger quantities as compared to the works he made in the Low Countries. Examination of his Italian paintings showed that Sweerts employed the dark halo technique. Although this specific painting technique is rarely discussed in literature, it can be found in a significant amount of Flemish and Dutch paintings of the 17th century. As dark halos were only found in his Italian paintings, it is not unthinkable that the technique helped Sweerts to deal with the coloured ground and assess what the final outcome of his applied colours would be.
More information about the preparatory stages of Sweerts’ paintings has also been gained. Although it had always been assumed that Sweerts prepared his compositions with an underdrawing in white chalk or a white chalk suspension, so far no concrete evidence was found in his paintings. MA-XRF scanning revealed an underdrawing in The Drawing Academy executed in a chalk-based material. The MA-XRF maps in combination with a microscopic examination of the area suggested that Sweerts indeed used white chalk to apply the underdrawing. The calcium map also gave insight into the way Sweerts prepared his composition. The underdrawing lines seem to have been executed in a rapid and sketchy manner. As such, Sweerts did not transfer the underdrawing from a separate support onto the canvas, but rather prepared the composition directly on the canvas.
By examining a series of paintings by the same artist with MA-XRF scanning, the results allow for a close comparison. We were able to gain a better understanding of Sweerts’ working methods throughout his career. It seems that Sweerts shifted towards using less expensive pigments after his stay in Rome. Additionally, certain painting techniques can only be found in Sweerts’ Italian paintings, such as the dark halo technique. He seemed to have abandoned this working method after returning to the Netherlands.