The Danish Golden Age just got a little more golden, thanks to a team of experts who inadvertently corroborated, for the first time, that artists of the time used beer to prime canvas.
Researchers at the Danish National Gallery have used mass spectrometry-based proteomics to measure the weight of various proteins on the surface of works by Golden Age artist Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and his protege Christen Schiellerup Købke . They identified proteins from cereals and yeasts, including barley, buckwheat, wheat and rye in seven of the works. The team ruled out environmental contamination, suggesting the proteins were applied on purpose.
The team, which set out to find animal glue, published their study in Scientific advances. It will shed light on conservation tactics and recast artworks into “historical molecular records”. (it might even help identify counterfeits.)
Another painting from the study: CW Eckersberg, A Russian Fleet at Anchor near Elsinore, 1826. Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images.
One of the researchers, Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo, told Artnet News that the seven works that tested positive for cereal and yeast proteins were also the first in the sample, produced while the two artists were affiliated with the Academy. of Fine Arts of Denmark, which would have provided the materials, including the primed canvases.
“It suggests that this recipe was used in the workshops of the Academy of Fine Arts itself,” she said. The proteins found here all contribute to alcohol production and show constant degradation, meaning the Danes were likely recycling brewing by-products.
But artists working today don’t necessarily have to follow their example.
“The original Danish Golden Age recipe certainly cannot be recommended because it contained lead from the white lead pigment,” another researcher, Cecil Krarup Andersen, told Artnet News. “However, if an organic pigment could be found that would mix well with brewer’s yeast and drying oil, that’s definitely a technique that’s still useful.”
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