Panel Paintings from the Suffolk Collection and the Wernher Collection, English Heritage: Tree-Ring Analysis and Wood Identification of Panels
Author(s): Ian Tyers
A programme of tree-ring assessment, measurement, and analysis was commissioned on three panel paintings from the English Heritage Suffolk Collection and Wernher Collection whilst the panels were undergoing conservation treatment at the Rangers House Laboratory in 2018. Direct tree-ring measurement was undertaken on six boards in two oak panel paintings, both of which were portraits of English sitters. The tree-ring results dated five of these boards and identified that all the dated boards were derived from timbers imported from the eastern Baltic. The timbers provide likely usage dates for these two panels supporting previous attributions. Microscopic samples were taken from the boards of the third painting, an Italian panel to determine its wood type. One of these boards retained sapwood. The identification analysis indicates a Botticelli panel is made of a timber from the Salicaceae family; likely to be poplar (Populus spp).
- Report Number:
- 38/2021
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 22
- Keywords:
- Dendrochronology Panel Painting
