The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings

Regarding the paintings ofHieronymus Bosch, it is obvious that

the dendrochronological analysis can differ between the original by Bosch

and the later copies by his followers. The analysis of paintings with the

same subject, the Mocking of Christ (Fig. 8), shows clearly that the two

paintings in Philadelphia (inv. nos. 352, 353) were created in the 1560s. The

felling dates of the painting panels in Frankfurt and Indianapolis lead to

attributions in the lifetime of Bosch; nevertheless, a decision about an

original can be finalized only by acritique ofstyle.

Another example, shown in Figure 9, demonstrates that the copy

of the Garden of Earthly Delightswas painted in the middle of the sixteenth

century, while the felling date for the original in Madrid corresponds with

the art-historical attribution.

In the first half of the seventeenth century, the Dutch and Flemish

painters used Baltic oak wood, but the Second Swedish-Polish War

(1655–60) caused the total breakdown of the Hansa trade. Thus, Baltic

timber is never found in panels made after 1650; oak boards from the

forests in western Germany and the Netherlands were used instead. Tropical

wood was seldom used in the seventeenth century; only in Rembrandt’s

workshop have different tropical wood species been identified (Table 4).

Dendrochronological analysis can prove that some boards origi-

nated from the same tree. Figure 10 shows, for example, five boards with

an identical growth-ring structure. Furthermore, these boards have specific

characteristics because they were cut offthrough the center of the tree

46 Klein

Hi er onym us Bosc h and Followe rs

Mocki ngof Chri st

14 68

1488

C. E.

1551

1555

Same tree

Ba lt ic oak

130 0 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 16 00

FFM 1577 — bo ard II

FFM 1577 — board II I

IUM C 10006 — bo ard I

IUM C 10006 — bo ard II

PHI 353 — bo ard I

PHI 353 — boa rd II

PHI 35 2 — board I

PHI 352 — boa rd II

Figure 8
Dendrochronological analyses of oak panels
ofHieronymus Bosch (Frankfurt and
Indianapolis) and followers (Philadelphia),
with the same subject, the Mocking of Christ.
(FFM 5 Städelsches Kunstinstitut und
Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt; IUM 5
Indianapolis Museum of Art; PHI 5
Philadelphia Museum of Art.)