Thomas Fearnley en Route: A 19th century artist's choice of drawing and fixing materials

THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CENTURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DRAWING AND FIXING MATERIALS Birgit Reissland, Tina Grette Poulsson, Henk van Keulen and Ineke Joosten ABSTRACT The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (National Museum, Oslo, Norway), owns about 750 drawings by Thomas Fearnley, a Norwegian romantic landscape painter. Examination of 190 pencil drawings by Fearnley enabled the identification of the drawing materials he carried on his extensive journeys through Europe. Watermark analysis confirmed that he bought his papers at local supplies and the results can serve as a basis for the attribution of drawings with unknown date to certain periods. The constant travelling on foot or in the coach required fixing of the delicate pencil drawings. Analysis using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) on samples from two case studies identified milk as the fixative used by Fearnley. The different ageing behaviours of papers fixed with milk can be attributed to the presence of minute iron-containing particles. This research shed light on the material choices of itinerant artists in the first half of the 19th century and the ageing of drawings that were fixed with milk. Introduction Thomas Fearnley (1802‒1842) was a Norwegian romantic artist and gifted landscape painter (Fig. 1). His compatriot, the famous painter Johan Christian Dahl, described him as the most talented of his pupils.1 Fearnley was born in 1802 in Frederikshald (today Halden) in Norway, a small town in the southeast of the country, a few miles from the current Norwegian–Swedish border. He was a restless soul, an excellent example of an itinerant artist in the early 19th century, and a cheery companion whose journeys with artist colleagues took him all over Europe. He died in Munich in 1842, only 39 years old, leaving his Norwegian wife and his newborn son Thomas with an impressive oeuvre of paintings in oil, plein air oil studies and a large collection of his drawings. Today, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo possesses 757 drawings by Fearnley, including drawings on the verso and in sketchbooks. Nearly all of them (733) were executed fully or partially in pencil. Many of these pencil drawings show a disturbing discoloration that obscures their images, indicative of the application of a fixative. Attempts to remove the fixative in the 1990s were unsuccessful, and its nature remained a mystery to paper conservators. In 2013, a joint project was started between the 82 Fig. 1 Thomas Fearnley, Self-Portrait with Pipe, 1831, pencil on paper, 218 × 181 mm, The National Museum, Oslo, NG.K&H.B.00757. (Photo: Andreas Harvik, The National Museum, Oslo.) THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS National Museum in Oslo and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE, Amsterdam), with the aim of identifying the fixative(s) used by Thomas Fearnley.2 This initial query regarding the fixative grew into a larger project, as the investigation also shed light on the materials that Fearnley used to create his pencil drawings. For this study, 190 drawings were examined in detail, covering the entire period of Fearnley’s career from 1823 to 1841. Two representative drawings executed in Ramsau, Bavaria, in September 1832 were used as case studies for the identification of the fixative: St. Sebastian, Ramsau and Tree, Ramsau (Figs 2 and 3).3 Deriving knowledge on Fearnley’s techniques from the actual artworks was crucial as he has left few written records. Although some letters do exist, Fearnley was not very fond of writing, as he revealed in a letter to his artist colleague Johannes Flintoe in 1830: ‘you know my weak side ... my damned antipathy to pen and ink’.4 Fig. 2 Thomas Fearnley, St. Sebastian, Ramsau, probably September 1832, pencil on paper, 267 × 295 mm, The National Museum, Oslo, NG.K&H.A.03480. (Photo: Birgit Reissland, RCE.) Thomas Fearnley Thomas Fearnley grew up with his aunt and uncle in Christiania (today Oslo), where a career path either in the military or in his uncle’s retail business had been mapped out for him. At the age of 18, he decided instead to follow his artistic vocation. He attended art academies in all the Scandinavian countries: the newly established Royal School of Drawing in Christiania (1819–21), the renowned Danish Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen (1821–23), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm (1823–27). After a four-year period of residence in Stockholm, Fearnley never spent more than twoand-a-half years in the same place (Fig. 4). In 1829, he set out on his grand tour, leaving Scandinavia for Dresden – to study under Johan Christian Dahl – where he became acquainted with artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, a close friend of Dahl, and Carl Gustav Carus. After 18 months in Dresden, Fearnley moved on to Munich, where he spent two happy years before venturing out on a 700 km walk to Rome. On the way he visited, among other places, Ramsau, where the two drawings in question were made. In 1835, he turned back north, via France to England where he met J.M.W. Turner. Back in Norway, he married Cecilia Catharine Andresen (1817–1888), the daughter of his benefactor, in 1840. They had a son, Thomas, born in Amsterdam in 1841. The family then moved to Munich, where Fearnley unfortunately contracted typhus and died in January 1842. Fearnley in his studio and en route Fig. 3 Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau, 14 September 1832, pen and pencil on paper, 343 × 248 mm, The National Museum, Oslo, NG.K&H.A.03393. (Photo: Birgit Reissland, RCE.) Fearnley’s self-portrait Fearnley in his Studio was probably made in 1826 when he was a 24-year-old student in Stockholm (Fig. 5). Fearnley depicted himself working on a large painting on a sunny but cold day. He gives us a glimpse into his artistic environment, including the equipment and materials he used to create his works of art. On the sideboard to the left are some plaster cast models, symbols of academic drawing. Behind the oven, his trunk lies on the floor. Fearnley’s coat, knapsack, pipes and trekking pole hang on the wall: necessary implements for the study tours he conducted through Norway and Sweden.5 His watercolour paint 83 BIRGIT REISSL AND, TINA GRETTE POULSSON, HENK VAN KEULEN AND INEKE JOOSTEN Fig. 4 Overview of Fearnley’s journeys through Europe: ‘Thomas Fearnley’s Europe, 1802–42.’ Image: Helen Swansbourne. (Originally published in Sumner and Smith 2012 (cited in note 14), p. 13.) (Image © The Barber Institute and D. Giles Ltd.) box rests on a chair to the right. The inserted paper label has a peculiar shape, suggesting that it might be a box made by the famous British manufacturer and ‘Inventor of Superfine Water Colours in Cakes’ William Reeves, or his successors Reeves & Inwood.6 On the trunk rests a wooden board with a sheet of paper attached to it, already prepared for watercolouring. Leaning against the wall are two portfolios, one full of paper, and more portfolios lie on the bookshelf to the right. A map of Europe is prominently displayed on top of the bookshelf in anticipation of Fearnley’s future travels. The concept of the grand tour originated in the 17th century for aristocratic young men. It was still popular in the romantic period, especially among young artists, provided they could find a travel scholarship. ‘All roads lead to Rome’: those of the Scandinavian artists, notably the Danish artists of the Danish Golden Age, led to Rome via the states of the German Confederation. Lengthy stops at picturesque areas 84 were common, and visits to Dresden, Berlin and other artistic centres allowed the travellers to reunite with artist friends, exchange or acquire new artistic concepts and replenish their supplies.7 Munich, with its famous artists’ community, was the common starting point for the journey to Italy. The south tempted artists with its sites of classical antiquity, southern light and climate, an authentic culture and beautiful landscapes.8 Hiking in small groups across the Alps to Rome became very popular, a kind of pilgrimage for 19th-century artists. The choice to hike was a conscious one: it allowed the artists to experience nature intimately, was affordable, and gave them freedom to choose their timing and their route. Fearnley also travelled via Dresden to Munich, where he arrived in October 1830. In common with many other artists, he felt the draw of Italy. On 6 September 1832, at 6 am, he left Munich with two fellow artists, the Danish artist Wilhelm Bendz (1804–1832), with whom he studied at the art academy THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS Fig. 5 Thomas Fearnley, Fearnley in his Studio, probably 1826, oil on board, 48 × 62 cm, private collection. (Image: O. Væring Eftf. AS.) in Copenhagen, and Joseph Petzl (1803–1871) from Munich, whom he first met in Dresden. They must have been a popular and sociable trio, as about 50 painters gathered for a farewell party the evening before they departed.9 The artists were more or less the same age: in September 1832, Fearnley was the oldest at 29 years; Pretzl and Bendz were both 28 years old. The young artists’ destination on leaving Munich was of course Italy. About a week later they arrived in the Bavarian alpine village of Ramsau. Their suitcases had been sent directly to Rome, but they each still had almost 20 kg on their backs to carry across the mountains.10 Their route differed from that normally taken by German artists.11 They walked through Ramsau, Gosausee, Villach and Trieste, from where they reached Venice by boat.12 A drawing by Joseph Petzl, showing Bendz in his travel outfit, reveals how the artists were equipped on their journey (Fig. 6). The three artists wore a costume typical for artists crossing the Alps in that period: a so-called Altdeutscher Rock, sign of a progressive attitude,13 and under it ‘a dark blue overcoat with many pockets and in addition a pair of trousers of white and blue striped ticking’.14 They also had a cleverly contrived knapsack, equipped with a device for fixing the painter’s box, pockets for paint bladders, a foldable stool and an umbrella. On top of Bendz’s knapsack is a cylindrical box which would have been made of tin and used to keep the drawing papers clean and dry. The artists had clement weather in Ramsau and spent every minute sketching from nature. In letters to his fiancée Marie, Bendz described the mornings and evenings as bitterly cold.15 The end of September was rather late for such a trip, with a cold winter approaching. They moved onto Salzburg and Gosausee, where Fearnley is known to have made several sketches. At this point, the weather became cold and wet. The artists walked up to 14 hours a day and the trek on foot over the Alps became very strenuous, especially for the somewhat corpulent Fearnley.16 It should therefore come as no surprise that there are no known surviving sketches by Fearnley from the last part of their mountain crossing. In late October 1832, the three companions reached Venice, at that time part of the Habsburg empire, where the three travellers said goodbye to go their separate ways: Fearnley was determined to carry on until he reached Rome, whereas Bendz wanted to stay in Venice. Bendz became ill, but moved on to Vicenza, where he died most likely from typhus just three weeks after he had parted from his friends. Fearnley finally arrived in Rome late November 1832 where he settled for a while, living amongst the Danish and German artistic community before turning further south. 85 BIRGIT REISSL AND, TINA GRETTE POULSSON, HENK VAN KEULEN AND INEKE JOOSTEN Fig. 6 Joseph Petzl, Wilhelm Ferdinand Bendz, 1832, 15.5 × 9.5 cm, Det Nationalhistoriske Museum på Frederiksborg Slot. (Photo: Hans Petersen.) Fearnley’s papers The papers Fearnley used for drawing show remarkable variety, ranging from thin, smooth papers of a light colour, to thicker, rougher papers with a surface texture, some containing coloured fibres. Fearnley used both laid and wove paper, possibly with a slight preference towards wove with its uniform surface.17 Sometimes he drew on the wire side, and sometimes on the felt side. Almost half of the examined drawings (89) contain a watermark representing papers from at least 25 different paper mills. Chronological ordering of the papers with watermarks allowed the reconstruction of Fearnley’s use of drawing papers, which was certainly influenced by the local availability of artists’ papers, his personal preferences and the price (Fig 7).18 During his Scandinavian period (1823‒1829), Fearnley worked predominantly on Honig papers (15 drawings) which were imported from the Netherlands and made by the different paper mills run by the Honig family in Zaandijk, near Amsterdam. Watermarks include: ‘C & I HONIG’, ‘J HONIG & ZOONEN’, ‘HONIG J C & Z’. Just five other papers with 86 a watermark were present, three of which could not be attributed. Two were of English origin: one paper with the watermark ‘C WILMOTT 1819’, referring to the papermaker Charles Wilmott who ran the Sundridge Mill in Kent, and one Whatman paper. Since 1805, Whatman paper had been produced by two competing mills: the first by William Balston, a master papermaker and former employee of the Whatmans, who owned the Springfield Mill (watermark: ‘J Whatman / year’). The second was the Turkey Mill owned by the Hollingworth brothers (watermark: ‘J Whatman / Turkey Mill / year’). Both paper mills are located near Maidstone in Kent. Most Whatman papers used by Fearnley were from the Turkey Mill. Fearnley’s move to Dresden in 1829 is clearly evident in his choice of papers. We see a decline in the Honig papers and an increase in papers made at local factories such as papers with the watermark ‘C F A F’, which could be attributed to a paper mill owned by Carl Friedrich August Fischer, situated in Bautzen and Obergurk.19 This mill was one of the larger and more important mills in the kingdom of Saxony, and the drawing Elbe at Saloppe, Dresden, made on 12 June 1830, was carried out on such a paper.20 The watermark ‘DRESDEN’ on the drawing Root of a Tree21 also refers to a paper produced in the kingdom of Saxony. Fearnley took the Saxonian paper with him and used it for drawings during his tour through the Salzburger Land in August 1830. His arrival in Munich allowed him to replenish his stocks of paper in the city of the arts. Papers from a paper mill with a watermark bearing the initials ‘M O’ and another paper mill with the initials ‘C M’ appear. The presence of 11 papers of the latter mill during the years 1830‒1831 evidences a clear preference for these papers. The two drawings From Bavaria22 and Landscape, Feldafing23 were executed in September and October 1830, when Fearnley visited the mountains. For these drawings he used laid paper from the local paper mill in Raitenhaslach, close to Burghausen. From Bavaria shows the watermark ‘Raitenhaslach’, and Landscape, Feldafing has the corresponding countermark ‘J.E.T.’. In August 1832, still in Bavaria, Fearnley once more worked on papers from the established paper mills Honig and Whatman, which he also used in Italy. In the Alps in September/October 1832, he worked on papers watermarked ‘M.H’ as well as Whatman papers from the Turkey Mill, probably carried in the tin box on his back. ‘Fratelli Camera’ is the watermark of an Italian paper and appears on a drawing made in Palermo on 7 May 1833. In Italy, one paper from the famous French paper mill Canson was used, as were papers with the watermark ‘A TS’. On his journey back north from Italy, Fearnley passed through Switzerland during the summer of 1835. The drawings Brunnen, Kanton Swyts and Brunnen were made on paper watermarked ‘E Gruner’.24 We know that the papermaker Samuel Emanuel Gruner had a paper mill in Berne from 1796 to 1810, and E. Gruner may be from the same papermaking family.25 It is interesting how the different locations of Fearnley’s voyage manifest themselves in the papers he used. A comparable pattern can probably be verified for Fearnley’s THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS Fig. 7 Map of some of the paper mills that provided paper for Fearnley’s drawings. He used paper from well-known paper mills as well as local mills. (Image: The Barber Institute and D. Giles Ltd. and Tina Grette Poulsson, The National Museum, Oslo.) stays in Paris, England, the Netherlands and Munich in the following years. Drawing easily en plein air thanks to the pencil The invention of the pencil was as revolutionary as the introduction of the paint tube. For drawing en plein air, it freed the artistic community from the use of dusty pieces of chalk, charcoal or Cumberland graphite inserted in porte-crayons. While early wooden pencils had many disadvantages, the new pencils invented by Nicolas Conté in 1795 had a perfectly uniform consistency and different grades of hardness. Contemporary artists embraced the newly manufactured pencils. It is therefore not surprising that the majority of Fearnley’s drawings were carried out in pencil – for an itinerant landscape painter who mainly sketched outdoors, pencils were small, light and easy to transport. Mechanical pencils were patented in England in 1822‒23 by Hawkins and Mordan. They were very common from the 1830s onwards and were known as Mordan’s ‘ever-pointed pencils’ because they did not need regular sharpening.26 Taking a closer look at Fearnley’s drawings, it seems likely that he used pencils of different hardnesses to create depth. Starting with light lines using pencils of a hard grade to outline the drawing, he added the darkest lines last, applying them with a soft pencil. This is common practice for experienced draughtsmen. In a few instances, Fearnley highlighted his pencil drawings with white chalk or gouache. In other drawings – for instance Tree, Ramsau (Fig. 3) – he combined pencil with other media such as pen and ink. Occasionally he applied locally thin washes or diluted watercolour, pastel, charcoal or black chalk. However, pure pencil drawings constitute the majority of the drawings in the collection of the National Museum. Pencil drawings, especially those executed with a soft pencil, smudge easily. How would such drawings respond to transport while coiled up in a cylindrical tin box during hiking for weeks in the mountains, or rubbing against each other within portfolios during long carriage rides? Protecting the drawings with a fixative Fearnley used fixatives on his pencil drawings during his entire career, on loose sheets as well as in sketchbooks. About 100 drawings exhibit the presence of a fixative in daylight while some more drawings contain a fixative that is only visible in UV radiation. The fixative was applied quickly with a brush, to preserve the soft and fragile pencil lines. In most cases it covers the drawing only, not the whole sheet (Fig. 8). Often the brush has missed parts of the drawing or covers large areas of untouched paper. Traces of the brush and droplets of fixative that sometimes lie outside of the fixed area can be discerned under ultraviolet (UV) radiation (Fig. 9). The fixative has been instrumental in preserving many of Fearnley’s drawings. In some cases where it does not cover all of the pencil lines, the unfixed areas have been almost erased (Fig. 10). However, over time the fixative in many of the drawings has deteriorated severely and in the 1990s, several attempts were made to remove it. Upon examining the fixed drawings, an intriguing discovery was made: while the fixative 87 BIRGIT REISSL AND, TINA GRETTE POULSSON, HENK VAN KEULEN AND INEKE JOOSTEN Fig. 8 UV photograph of Thomas Fearnley, St. Sebastian, Ramsau: the fixative (with a brighter fluorescence) was applied with a brush in the areas of pencil only, omitting the upper part of the church spire. (Photo: Aafke Weller.) on 73 drawings has discoloured, on 17 drawings the fixative seems to have protected the paper. Thorough examination showed that in the latter case a thin layer was present on the surface of the drawing (Fig. 11). Such a controversial ageing behaviour was expected to be the result of the use of two different fixatives. To investigate this hypothesis two representative drawings were chosen: St. Sebastian, Ramsau with a discoloured fixative (Fig. 2) and Tree, Ramsau, the paper of which has been protected by the fixative (Fig. 3). Both drawings were created mid-September 1832 during a week’s stay at Ramsau, just before crossing the Alps towards Italy. The fixative on both drawings shows a comparable whitish fluorescence under UV radiation (Figs 8 and 9). Initial microchemical tests were carried out on minute samples of both drawings.27 The results were negative for starch (Lugol’s solution) in areas both with and without fixative, and positive for protein (amido black) in areas where the fixative had been applied. In situ X-ray fluorescence (XRF) identified a greater 88 amount of calcium (Ca) in areas with fixative. The results of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were unexpected. In contrast to the initial hypothesis that different fixatives had been used, the chromatograms of the fixatives of the two drawings were quite comparable. Their interpretation was complex (Fig. 12): aspartic acid and phosphate were abundantly present; the absence of arabinose, rhamnose and hydroxyproline excluded gum arabic; the absence of hydroxyproline indicated that animal glue, gelatine or isinglass were not used as a fixative; and finally the chromatograms did not match egg white. At this stage, source research offered valuable information. The question of how to protect delicate pencil drawings was discussed in several sources contemporary to Fearnley.28 Besides isinglass, another ingredient frequently referred to as a fixative is milk. Skimmed milk was preferable to avoid greasing the paper, or a mixture of milk and water. It could be applied in different ways – by brushing it over the THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS pencil drawing, by soaking the drawing, or as described by MacKenzie (1829): ‘Lay the drawing flat, upon the surface of the milk; then taking it up fast, hang it, by one corner, till it drains and dries.’29 The use of milk was already common practice for protecting drawings created with black chalk,30 and Gainsborough (1727–1788) employed milk as part of a complex technique to fix his watercolours.31 Since milk was not (yet) included in the GC-MS reference database of the RCE, no match was obtained during the initial testing phase. When reinterpreting the GC-MS results taking into account milk as a potential fixative, the results made perfect sense. Milk consists of casein (which explains the presence of phosphate, calcium and amino acids) and whey (a colloidal suspension of soluble proteins and milk sugar so-called lactose, a di-sugar of galactose and glucose, which accounts for the presence of sugars). However for a positive identification of milk, the height of the galactose and glucose peaks must match but this was not the case. The substrate, aged paper, also contains glucose. However, after subtraction of the blank (paper), the peaks still did not match; the glucose peak was now lower than that of galactose. Experimental verification was required.32 The variation in peak height was explained by the different response of casein and whey during application onto a paper surface. As is known from cheese production, milk is pH sensitive and in an acid environment (pH 4.5) the casein proteins coagulate and separate from the whey. Applying milk to a mildly acidic paper surface will cause the same reaction. As a result, a layer of casein is formed, while the whey spreads within the paper. During drying, the water evaporates and part of the whey remains in the paper. Casein is insoluble in most solvents commonly used in paper conservation, hence the fixative on Fearnley’s drawings was reported to be insoluble. The suggestion that Fearnley used milk as a fixative is feasible. We can easily imagine Fearnley and his travelling companions strolling around Ramsau, one of the most picturesque villages in Bavaria at the foot of high Alpine mountains. They were surrounded by nature, farmers and, most importantly, cows. When Fearnley sketched the tree and the prominent church of St. Sebastian during the week in Ramsau, milk was indeed a logical solution to fix his drawings – it was cheap, readily available and easy to apply. However, a final question remained: why would milk, applied in the same week, at the same place, react so differently on both papers? Two papers: so similar and yet so different The papers used in both St. Sebastian, Ramsau and Tree, Ramsau were handmade. They are wove papers, a paper quality introduced by the British papermaker James Whatman the Elder around the mid-18th century. Wove papers were much appreciated by printers, watercolourists and other artists for their uniform paper surface, undisturbed by the chain and wire lines of a papermaker’s mould. Unfortunately, neither Fig. 9 UV photograph of Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau: drips of the fixative (fluorescing areas) are visible along the right edge. (Photo: Aafke Weller.) Fig. 10 Detail from Thomas Fearnley, Deciduous Tree, Haga, 1825, pencil on paper, 420 × 318 mm, NG.K&H.A.03381: in the centre, where no fixative was applied, the pencil lines are visibly lighter than in those areas where the fixative protected the lines. (Photo: Tina Grette Poulsson, The National Museum, Oslo.) of the two papers have a watermark. To identify them therefore the papers were compared visually to drawing papers of known origin used by Fearnley in the period 1830–32. The surface texture of the felt and the wire side, paper colour and thickness of the paper of the St. Sebastian, Ramsau drawing closely matched other papers watermarked ‘M.H’ but the mill that produced paper with this watermark has yet to be identified. Fearnley drew on two other ‘M.H’ papers on 19 September and 3 October 1832. Obviously he had taken a 89 BIRGIT REISSL AND, TINA GRETTE POULSSON, HENK VAN KEULEN AND INEKE JOOSTEN Fig. 11 Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau: raking light photograph showing how the fixative formed a layer on the paper’s surface. (Photo: Tina Grette Poulsson.) Fig. 12 Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau: GC-MS chromatogram from a surface scrape sample of fixative. (Image: RCE Amsterdam.) small stock of ‘M.H’ papers with him on the hiking tour and still used this paper in 1835 while travelling through Italy. The paper of the drawing Tree, Ramsau matched a Whatman paper produced by the Turkey Mill in Kent. Fearnley used that paper on two drawings made on 19 August 1832, shortly before starting the hiking tour. The paper of the Tree, Ramsau drawing has a homogeneous brownish discoloration,33 contrary to the paper of St. Sebastian, Ramsau. The UV images of both drawings confirm that the fixative did not penetrate to the verso of the paper: the versos just show a few fluorescent splashes and drip marks from the fixative indicating that the papers were well sized. GC-MS identified 90 animal glue as the sizing agent in both cases. Fibre analysis confirmed that both papers are rag papers, consisting of a mixture of linen and hemp fibres that were prepared in a Hollander beater. In general, the fibres of both papers were relatively short: the fibres of the drawing Tree, Ramsau appeared to be quite fibrillated, and some cotton fibres may have been added as well. Smalt was used for paper blueing. Scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) revealed that both papers contained chlorine, suggesting that both paper mills practised the relatively new chlorinebleaching technique. Yet, this still could not explain the different appearance and ageing behaviour of both papers. THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS Fig. 13 Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau: SEM image of particles on paper (left) and EDX spectrum of an iron-containing particle in the paper (right). (Image: RCE, Amsterdam.) While the entire composition was astonishingly comparable, one difference was identified: while both papers contained minuscule particles (maximum diameter 25 μm) within the paper fibres, these differed in composition. In the case of St. Sebastian, Ramsau, the particles consist of gypsum, a reaction product formed during the ageing of paper. The paper of the Tree, Ramsau drawing shows a more varied mixture of particles, mainly consisting of clay or gypsum. A few particles in Tree, Ramsau have a high iron content (Fig. 13) and this is the determining factor, although the following explanation is to be regarded as hypothetical rather than factual since it has not yet been experimentally verified. The combination of iron and an oxidising bleach such as chlorine is known to cause severe deterioration. While invisible initially, the reaction between iron and the oxidising agent causes the paper to degrade and change colour to a darker yellowish-brown tone in the long term.34 In the case of Tree, Ramsau, this reaction probably occurred – the paper is homogeneously discoloured due to the fact that the paper mill (probably the Whatman Turkey mill) used iron-contaminated clay as filler during paper production. The milk protected the paper locally from discoloration.35 In the case of the drawing St. Sebastian, Ramsau, the paper mill (most likely M.H) used an uncontaminated clay filler. The paper retained its colour, but the milk layer itself discoloured. A closer look at the collection revealed that two more Whatman papers as well as one Canson and one van Gelder paper have a lighter area where the fixative was applied.36 It is probable that these paper mills also used the detrimental combination of chlorine bleach and iron-contaminated filler material. Further examples revealing a comparable phenomenon of contradictory discoloration in the presence of milk include a series of world-famous pencil drawings by Vincent van Gogh, where it is known from his letters that he poured generous quantities of milk over them. In his case the purpose was not to fix them but to reduce the gloss of the shiny pencil lines.37 It would be interesting to collect and share information on drawings on which milk was used as a fixative. landscapes and the most important European art centres of his time. His itinerant life is reflected in the choice of his materials. For drawing outdoors his choice was particularly pragmatic: pencils of different hardness grades and papers of different origin. Besides using papers from well-established mills such as Honig and Whatman, easily available in cities with art academies, he also purchased paper of local origin. His delicate pencil drawings also had to be protected from the rigours of transportation for which he chose cheap and widely available milk. However, as a result of ageing, the appearance of the papers and fixative has changed in different ways. The use of an iron-containing clay filler in combination with a 19th-century chlorine bleach employed in the paper mill (probably the Whatman Turkey mill) caused that paper to discolour homogeneously whereas the applied milk protected the fixed areas from discoloration. In the other case, a paper, most likely from the M.H mill, did not contain iron particles and remained unaffected but the applied milk discoloured. It would be beneficial to verify if other drawing papers on which milk was added as a fixative and protected against discoloration all show a higher content of iron and chlorine. Experimental appendix Visual examination The drawings were examined under different light sources: ambient light, raking light, transmitted light, and UV radiation. Microchemical tests Amido black 10B: amino acid staining diazo dye used to stain for protein, A8181-1EA, (Sigma). Lugol’s solution: iodine-potassium iodide (I2KI), reagent for starch detection, available from pharmacies. Conclusions XRF The life of the Norwegian landscape painter Thomas Fearnley was short but blessed: he was able to visit the most beautiful X-ray fluorescence, handheld Niton XL3t XRF (Thermo Scientific). 91 BIRGIT REISSL AND, TINA GRETTE POULSSON, HENK VAN KEULEN AND INEKE JOOSTEN GC-MS Notes Thermo Scientific Focus GC system, equipped with a ISQ mass spectrometer. The sample material was extracted with 5% ammonia and hydrolysed with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and analysed as meth-oxim-trimethylsilyl derivatives, split injection on a SLB5ms 20 m column with internal diameter 0.18 mm, a film thickness of 0.18 μm, temperature range of 80–280 °C, with norleucine and the methylester of stearic acid (FA-C18) as internal standards. 1. E. Haverkamp, ‘Thomas Fearnley’, in ‘Nature’s Way’: Romantic Landscapes from Norway, Oil Studies, Watercolours and Drawings by Johan Christian Dahl (1788‒1857) and Thomas Fearnley (1802‒1842), exh. cat., Manchester, Cambridge and Oslo, 1993, p. 22. 2. The RCE is well known for more than 50 years of expertise in the field of art technological and scientific study of heritage, including art on paper. Heritage institutes without specialist laboratory facilities are always welcome to approach the RCE. Relevant problems can be solved with joint research projects. 3. Thomas Fearnley, St. Sebastian, Ramsau, probably September 1832, pencil on paper, 267 × 295 mm, inv. no. NG.K&H.A.03480, and Thomas Fearnley, Tree, Ramsau, 14 September 1832, pencil, pen and ink on paper, 343 × 248 mm, inv. no. NG.K&H.A.0339. 4. T. Fearnley to Johannes Flintoe, Dresden, 15 June 1830, National Library of Norway, Brevs. 1: Voksende samling. Arkivsignatur: Brevs. 1 / 446: http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digi manus_143997. 5. S. Willoch, and H. Alsvik, ‘Thomas Fearnleys tegninger. Fra reiser ute og hjemme 1824–1840’, in Gyldendal norsk forlag, Oslo, 1952, p. 12. 6. According to Vyki Sparkes, Curator of Social and Working History at the London Museum, the museum possesses four paint boxes with a label of this particular shape from William Reeves and/or Reeves & Inwood. One of the boxes contains pigs’ bladders of oil colour; the other three contain watercolour cakes. Inwood sold the premises to the Driver family by 1816, and subsequently Driver & Shaw advertised as successors to Reeves & Inwood. Whether Driver & Shaw used the same advertising label inside their boxes is not known. Considering that Fearnley started his artistic carrier in 1819, this box could possibly be one from Reeves & Inwood. The label inter alia advertises Reeves as the ‘Inventor of Superfine Water Colours in Cakes’. 7. K.L. Grand, ‘Rejsebilleder – Turist i Arkadien? / Travel images – A Tourist in Arkadien?’, in K. Lykke Grand, L. Pennington and A.M. Thomsen (eds), Gold: Treasures from the Danish Golden Age, Aarhuis, 2013, p. 212. PDF available at: http://pure. au.dk/portal/files/85563798/4_KLG_Rejsebilleder_Turist_i_ Arkadien_GULD_publiceret.pdf. 8. Ibid., pp. 213–214. Grand emphasises that artists of the period of the Danish Golden Age were the last travellers to experience a relatively ‘authentic’ southern sphere in Italy before mid-19th century tourism changed the country and its folk culture irrevocably. 9. A. Johansen, ‘Michael Raffenbergs uddrag af Wilhelm Bendz’ rejsebreve’, in Wilhelm Bendz. Et ungt kunstnerliv 1804‒1832, exh. cat., Copenhagen, Den Hirschsprungske Samling, 1996, p. 225. 10. E. Johansson, Wilhelm Bendz, Copenhagen, Spektrum/Forum Publishers, 1995, p. 152. 11. The typical route passed through Salzburg, Innsbruck, Brenner, Bozen, Trento, Rovereto and Verona; see L. Richter, Lebenserinnerungen eines deutschen Malers, Leipzig, Hesse und Becker Verlag, 1909, pp. 116‒147. 12. Johansen 1996 (cited in note 9). 13. E.M. Schneider, Herkunft und Verbreitungsformen der ‘Deutschen Nationaltracht der Befreiungskriege’ als Ausdruck politischer Gesinnung, unpublished dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Philosophische Fakultät, 2002. Available at: http://www.burschenschaftsgeschichte.de/ pdf/eva_maria_schneider_deutsch_nationaltracht_01.pdf 14. A. Sumner and G. Smith (eds), In Front of Nature: The European Polarisation microscopy of paper fibre samples Trinocular Zeiss Axio Lab.A1 transmitted light microscope equipped with polarisation filters and a rotary stage. Samples were prepared on ultrasonically cleaned standard Super Frost slides, mounted in 50:50 water:glycerine and covered with a 20 × 20 mm coverglass. The samples were examined under cross-polarisation and a retarder (λ) plate in the light path. Z-stack images were produced with a Canon EOS 50D camera and Photoshop CS6 software. SEM-EDX Carried out with a JEOL5910LV in low-vacuum mode, at 30 Pa pressure and 20 kV, using a Thermo Scientific SDD EDX detector and analysed with NSS7 software. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Trine Nordkvelle, Møyfrid Tveit, Bodil Sørensen and Frode Haverkamp (curators/senior curators, National Museum, Oslo) for general advice. Vyki Sparkes (Curator of Social and Working History, Museum of London) kindly replied to our query concerning the Reeves paint boxes. We extend our gratitude to Aafke Weller (P.I. student, paper conservation, University of Amsterdam) for taking the UV images, Paul Messier (UV Innovations, Boston) for providing the Target-UV and UV-Gray chart, Bas van Velzen (teacher of paper conservation, University of Amsterdam) for carrying out the paper fibre analysis, and Niels Højmark Andersen (senior engineer, University of Oslo) for performing Raman spectroscopy. We acknowledge Kit Ming Wong (student, RCE, Amsterdam / Hogeschool Leiden) for conducting the GC-MS analysis. For supporting our watermark analysis we thank Peter Bower (paper historian, England), Dr Georg Dietz (paper historian, Dresden), Andrea Lothe (paper historian, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Leipzig), Dr Henk Porck (paper historian, The Netherlands) and Emanuel Wenger (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna). The Bernstein Watermark Database was of great value to our research. Mr Heemskerk (organic farmer, Warmond) and Femke Coevert (paper conservator, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) helped by providing organic milk for our experiments. We would also like to thank Sarah Anne Beattie (assistant curator, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham) for aid with obtaining the rights to use the map of Fearnley’s Europe. We are also indebted to our colleague Kari Greve (Head of Conservation, National Museum, Oslo). 92 THOMAS FEARNLEY EN ROUTE: A 19TH-CEN TURY ARTIST’S CHOICE OF DR AWING AND FIXING MATERIALS 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. Landscapes of Thomas Fearnley, London, D. Giles Ltd, 2012, pp. 93–95. Johansen 1996 (cited in note 9), p. 225. Ibid., p. 226. The 190 papers examined consisted of 81 laid and 107 wove papers. The texture of two papers was not determined. Watermark research helps to establish the age of a paper and its origin, and can provide information on the artist’s preferences. Identifying watermarks on drawings is complex. Unlike writing or printing paper, drawing papers often do not contain a watermark at all, or show only incomplete watermarks (or countermarks) as artists frequently cut their paper to a certain format. Describing a watermark is just the first step in identifying the paper mill. If only initials, a decorative mark or an incomplete watermark are present, watermark analysis is complicated. Unlike manuscripts or letters, drawings often remain undated and therefore only a few drawing papers are currently included in watermark databases; see also A.-G. Rischel, ‘A technical study of 19th-century papers used by Danish artists’, in this volume, pp. 65–71. Amtlicher Bericht über die allgemeine Deutsche GewerbeAusstellung zu Berlin im Jahre 1844, Dritter und letzter Teil, Berlin, Verlag von K. Reimarus, 1845, pp. 132–133. Thomas Fearnley, Elben et Saloppen, 12 June 1830, pencil on paper, 255 × 463 mm, inv no. NG.K&H.A.03773. Thomas Fearnley, Root of a Tree, 1829–1830, pencil on paper, inv no. NG.K&H.A.03732. Thomas Fearnley, From Bavaria, 20 September 1830, wash and pencil on paper, 420 × 310 mm, inv. no. NG.K&H.A.03570. Landscape, Feldafing, 12 October 1830, pencil on paper, 306 × 424 mm, inv. no. NG.K&H.A.03706 Thomas Fearnley, Brunnen, Kanton Swytz, 26 June 1835, pencil on paper, 277 × 443 mm, inv. no. NG.K&H.A.03240 and Thomas Fearnley, Brunnen, 27 June 1835, pencil on paper, NG.K&H.A.03235. P. Bower, Turner’s Papers: A Study of the Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1787–1820, London, Tate Gallery, 1990, p. 84. L. Herbert (ed.), ‘Mechanical pencil’, in The Engineer’s and Mechanics Encyclopaedia, vol. 2, 1836, pp. 284–285. For detailed information, see the experimental appendix. C. Hayter, Hayter’s Introduction to Perspective, Drawing, and Painting, 3rd edn, London, 1820, pp. 169‒170; C. Humphrys (tr.) and A. Müller (ed.), Der englische Zeichenmeister. Oder die neuesten Methoden, Erfindungen und Verbesserungen im Zeichnen, Tuschen, Coloriren, Malen und Farbenbereiten [...] Ein nützliches Handbüchlein für angehende und geübtere Zeichner, Gottfried Basse, Quedlingburg and Leipzig, 1832, p. 37. C. Mackenzie, Mackenzie’s Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts, Philadelphia, James Kay Jnr. and Brother, 1829, p. 54. Humphrys and Müller 1832 (cited in note 28), p. 37 J. Weir, ‘Eggs, milk and fish: a practical investigation of artists’ use of fixatives’, The Book and Paper Group Annual 26, American Institute of Conservation, 2007, p. 134. Experiments with organic, skimmed milk applied on three different historic papers from the Honig paper mill and three standard model papers demonstrated that the whey migrated into the papers where it remained even after drying. The samples of the original drawings were taken by scraping off the fixative on top of the paper surface therefore only components 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. present on the surface were analysed, not the whey part with its high amount of glucose. This explains the different peak heights. The Whatman papers used for printing and subsequent handcolouring of the famous book The Birds of America by James Audubon (1827‒1838) are contemporaneous to Fearnley’s papers and also originate from the Turkey Mill. They are reported by Steiner to have ‘a stronger tendency to go yellow or beige’: B. Steiner, Audubon Art Prints: A Collector’s Guide to Every Edition, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 2003, p. 29. The cause is depolymerisation of cellulose due to autocatalytic oxidation triggered by iron ions which act as radicals. Conjugated groups are formed that cause discoloration of paper; see L. Niehus, U. Henniges, M. Horsky, T. Prohaska, A. Potthast and I. Brueckle, ‘Reducing risks of hydrogen peroxide bleaching in presence of iron ions in paper’, Restaurator 33, 2012, p. 3. A homogeneous distribution of iron particles in the paper causes a homogeneous discoloration – only in specific cases can a locally high iron concentration lead to local discoloration; see M. Kraan, F. Ligterink, B. Reissland, B. van Beek, B. van Velzen, I. Joosten and P. Hallebeek, ‘A million brown spots after conservation: untangling the cause-effect chain’, in S. Jaques (ed.), The Institute of Conservation (ICON), Edinburgh Conference Papers, 2007, pp. 59‒66. Casein has been suggested as an inhibitor of iron-catalysed oxidation (preliminary project on iron-gall inks, RCE Amsterdam in cooperation with Walter Castelijns, Rotterdam Archives, 1998/99, unpublished). Alternatively it could be an optical effect caused by the whitish layer developing on top of the paper surface. Drawings with the watermark ‘Whatman’ NG.K&H.A.03384 and NG.K&H.A.03412; with the watermark ‘Canson’ NG.K&H.A.03222; and with the watermark ‘Van Gelder’ NG.K&H.A.03253. He describes the method in his letters to his brother Theo van Gogh on 14 April 1882 (letter 217) and on 1 May 1882 (letter 222); see ‘Vincent van Gogh: the Letters’: http://vangoghletters. org. Both the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Kroeller Mueller Museum in Otterloo possess drawings with such a different discoloration pattern. No research has yet been done to verify the presence of milk and explain the differing behaviour of Van Gogh’s drawing papers. Authors’ addresses • Birgit Reissland, Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands (RCE), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (B.Reissland@ cultureelerfgoed.nl) • Tina Grette Poulsson, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (tina.poulsson@ nasjonalmuseet.no) • Henk van Keulen, Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands (RCE), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (H.van.Keulen@ cultureelerfgoed.nl) • Ineke Joosten, Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands (RCE), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (I.Joosten@ cultureelerfgoed.nl) 93 STUDYING THE EUROPEAN VISUAL ARTS 1800–1850 Paintings, Sculpture, Interiors and Art on Paper CATS Proceedings, III, 2016 Edited by Joyce H. Townsend and Abbie Vandivere Archetype Publications www.archetype.co.uk in association with