Early Painting in the Northern Netherlands

This volume, published in association with the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), contains the results of research by scientists, conservators and art historians into the materials and techniques of early paintings from the Northern Netherlands in the museum’s collection. In order to investigate the materials used by the artists, including the provenance of the materials and the methods of preparation and application, 14 paintings and frames were examined. Information on the panels, grounds, underdrawings, pigments, oils, diluents etc. are explored in relation to the descriptions in mediaeval texts and treatises.

This richly illustrated book gives a clear understanding of the lost skills, forgotten materials, and technical secrets of medieval painting – a world so different from ours – thereby making the materials and methods of the medieval past less foreign to us.