ABSTRACT

The study of materials that comprise artworks significantly contributes to understanding of age and provenance. While dendrochronology is a particularly valuable and well-established technique for panel paintings comprising oak timber, conventional practices of resurfacing end-grains to reveal tree rings is becoming less acceptable because it removes material, modifying the painting. Recently, application of non-destructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy to a portrait of Henry VIII held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Sydney, Australia revealed tree-ring boundaries in the resulting high-resolution elastic scatter XRF map. In this study, we examine the dendrochronological potential of that mapping with the aim of contributing to resolving the relationship of the AGNSW portrait to similar paintings elsewhere. Examination of the timber revealed affinities with Quercus petraea (Matt.). We measured tree-ring widths along multiple paths in the XRF scatter map and crossdated the resulting 81-year XRF ring-width (XRF_portrait) series against master chronologies of English, western European, and Baltic origin. Rather than an arbitrarily defined threshold, we used a Bonferroni correction to determine a minimum significance level for crossdating. While the XRF_portrait series did not crossdate with the continental European chronologies, we identified a single significant (α = 3.4 × 10⁻⁶) dating position with the English chronology (1400–1480 CE). Cross-matching with site-level chronologies revealed a cluster of high t-values in central-southern England. The earliest date of felling precedes the documented date of completion for the AGNSW and two similar Tudor portraits of Henry VIII held by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London and one at the Society of Antiquaries, London. While the apparent British provenance of timber used in the AGNSW portrait contrasts to Baltic origin of timbers used for the two NPG portraits and the majority of English panel paintings, it is consistent with the provenance of the timber used for the Society of Antiquaries portrait.

摘要

对构成艺术品的材料的研究极大地有助于理解年龄和出处。虽然树木年代学对于包含橡木的面板绘画来说是一种特别有价值和完善的技术，但重修端部纹理以显示年轮的传统做法变得越来越不可接受，因为它去除了材料，修改了绘画。最近，将无损 X 射线荧光 (XRF) 光谱应用于澳大利亚悉尼新南威尔士艺术馆 (AGNSW) 举办的亨利八世肖像，揭示了由此产生的高分辨率弹性散射中的树木年轮边界XRF 图。在这项研究中，我们检查了该映射的树木年代学潜力，目的是有助于解决 AGNSW 肖像与其他地方类似绘画的关系。Quercus petraea (马特.)。我们测量了 XRF 散点图中多条路径上的树木年轮宽度，并将由此产生的 81 年 XRF 年轮宽度（XRF_肖像）系列与英国、西欧和波罗的海起源的主要年表进行了交叉标注。我们没有使用任意定义的阈值，而是使用 Bonferroni 校正来确定交叉约会的最小显着性水平。虽然 XRF_肖像系列没有与欧洲大陆年表交叉，但我们用英国年表（公元 1400-1480 年）确定了一个重要的 ( α  = 3.4 × 10 ^-6 ) 年代测定位置。与站点级年表的交叉匹配揭示了一组高t- 英格兰中南部的价值观。最早的砍伐日期早于 AGNSW 和两幅类似的亨利八世都铎肖像的完成日期，这些肖像由伦敦国家肖像画廊 (NPG) 和伦敦古董协会收藏。虽然 AGNSW 肖像中使用的木材明显来自英国，与两幅 NPG 肖像和大多数英国面板画所用木材的波罗的海原产地形成鲜明对比，但它与古董协会肖像所用木材的出处一致。