Insights from Technical Analysis on a Group of Paintings by Gerrit Dou in the Leiden Collection

Abstract

Over the past four years an inquiry has been conducted into the painting methods and materials employed by Gerrit Dou on a group of thirteen paintings in the Leiden Collection, New York, that spans the career of the artist. The study incorporates the results of diagnostic imaging by infrared techniques and X-radiography, analysis of selective pigment samples, dendrochronology of the support panels, and microscopic examination of Dou's paint handling and sequences of application. The study has brought to light numerous revisions by the artist in developing these compositions, some of which shed light on more fundamental issues of meaning in the depictions.