RKD STUDIES

MA-XRF scanning revealed a specific painting technique in three paintings attributed to Sweerts’ Italian period, in particular, A Game of Draughts, Peasant Family with a Man Defleaing Himself and A Game of Backgammon. A Game of Draughts is signed and dated by Sweerts; the signature reads ‘Michael Sweerts fecit anno 1652 Roma’, whereas scholars have also attributed Peasant Family with a Man Defleaing Himself and A Game of Backgammon to Sweerts’ Italian period.¹

In Peasant Family with a Man Defleaing Himself, the specific painting technique used by Sweerts is most obvious and can even be seen with the naked eye. Around the woman, a halo-like shape draws the attention of the viewer. The woman is painted against the greyish blue background sky, while the paint of the sky directly adjacent to this figure displays a slightly lighter tone [10].² In the infrared reflectogram (IRR) this halo-like shape actually shows up dark, indicating that a carbon-rich (and thus dark) paint layer is present below the paint surface [11].³ Microscopic examination of the area confirmed that a dark grey paint was applied in the underpainting, using a paint mixture that contains a carbon-based pigment that absorbs infrared radiation. Sweerts seemed to have blocked out the contours of the main figure with a dark paint in the early painting stages.

MA-XRF scanning of A Game of Draughts and A Game of Backgammon revealed similar halo-like shapes. None of these paintings contain a halo visible to the naked eye; in A Game of Draughts only one halo emerges in the IRR image, around the little boy in the centre of the composition [12-13].⁴

In the case of A Game of Draughts, MA-XRF scanning was able to visualize additional halos surrounding all figures in the elemental distribution maps of iron, manganese, potassium and lead [14-15]. Each halo seems to have been painted with a slightly different paint mixture, as the signal intensity of the elements differ from halo to halo. All halos contain iron, but only the halo framing the head of the boy pointing towards the door emerges in the lead map, whereas the halo around the head of the boy in the bright red uniform seems comparatively richer in manganese.

In A Game of Backgammon, halos can be seen in the lead, iron and copper maps [16-19]. In this painting too, each halo seems to have been painted with a slightly different paint mixture, while microscopic examination indicated that all halos have a greyish colour.

10
Michael Sweerts
Travellers and a man getting rid of fleas, c. 1656-1660
The Hague, Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, inv./cat.nr. 886

11
Infrared reflectogram revealing the presence of a carbon-based (thus dark) halo-like underpainting around the woman. Image courtesy of the Mauritshuis Museum. Infrared reflectogram made by Sarah Kleiner

Although the exact paint mixture seems to differ from halo to halo, microscopic examination of all three paintings confirmed that all halos had a dark greyish colour. This technique of adding a (dark) halo around the main figures of a composition, can also be found in the works of other 17th-century Dutch and Flemish artists, including Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)⁵, Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)⁶ and Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck (1600/03-1662).⁷ In the context of a research project into the working methods of the latter artist, Ella Hendriks rationalized the dark halo technique as a way to ‘provide a foil against which the tones of the portrait could be established’.⁸ Verspronck added a dark halo to be able to establish the correct highlights, mid-tones and shadows right away. The dark (grey) halo thus served as a colour reference in the earliest painting stage, when no tonal benchmark was available to the artist.

17th-century artists generally worked from foreground to background. This was different in the 15th and 16th centuries, when artists rather worked from background to foreground, leaving reserves in anticipation of the main figures that were painted later. With this approach, artists applied plenty of colours to hold on to from the beginning. In contrast with 15th-16th century artists, painters of the 17th century did not have this tonal benchmark when painting the main figures. It is well possible that the dark halo served as such a tonal benchmark. Interestingly, in the oeuvre of Sweerts, this so-called dark halo technique has so far only been found in paintings originating from his Italian period. This indicates that apparently, Sweerts did not need this technique while working in the Low Countries on a double, grey over red ground, suggesting that the dark halo technique may be a way for Sweerts to deal with the typical Italian (reddish) brown ground.