Venetian Painting of the 15th and 16th century in the Alte Pinakothek Munich, with special focus on painting technology

• Applicant: Dr. Andreas Schumacher
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457165419

The aim of the interdisciplinary research project is to explore the relation between the various artistic and technical factors that shaped the transformations in painting styles characteristic of 16th-century Venetian painting. The holdings of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, which historically have grown to offer representative insights into the painting of Renaissance Venice, provide an interdisciplinary team of art historians, restorers and scientists with the opportunity to trace the changing ways in which Venetian painters dealt with the materials of their work and the creative process itself. By combining art-historical examination with restauration expertise and scientific analyses, the project focuses on the following questions: Is there a technological equivalent for a brushstroke which, in art-historical terms, would be described as "swift" - and if so, how can its material quality be specified? Does an application of paint which is usually characterized as "open" necessarily involve modifications in priming, imprimitura and underdrawing? Did the change in brushwork generally increase the speed of the working process or did it, on the contrary, even slow it down precisely because of its openness to revision? Contemporary art theory celebrated the conscious display of technical bravura which conveyed the impression that the artist had brought forth his ideas with playful ease. Is the new mode of painting therefore an expression of growing artistic sovereignty and is it, consequently, particularly evident in the painters’ "late style"? Seemingly spontaneous works were aimed at a receptive public that understood the sensual value of an open, painterly style as part of the creative process and as a new form of expressiveness. Accordingly, the visible stroke of the brush, which with its material presence challenges the imaginative potential of the viewer, is to be discussed both as a self-representation of the artist and as an invitation for the recipient to participate in the act of creation itself. With a total of ca. 210 paintings, the Alte Pinakothek keeps one of the most important collections of Venetian Renaissance paintings outside Italy. The aim of the interdisciplinary project is to examine these works through state-of-the-art technological methods and a wide range of art-historical approaches. A selection of 51 paintings, which promise particularly significant results, will be thoroughly investigated using technical imaging and material analysis in combination with comprehensive art-historical research and discussion. The remaining 156 works will be made accessible for research through a basic technological examination and a general art-historical classification. By integrating art-historical and technological perspectives throughout catalogue articles and overarching essays, the project will contribute to the study of 16th-century Venetian painting far beyond the scope of traditional catalogue research.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants