 Detail of the Madonna’s head and upper torso. Giuliano Bugiardini, Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, c. 1523-25 Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961. (1960.10) Photo credit: Allentown Art Museum, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961. (1960.10) Click image to enlarge |
 Giuliano Bugiardini, Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, c. 1523-25 113 x 81.5cm, Oil on cradled panel Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961. (1960.10) Photo credit: Allentown Art Museum, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961. (1960.10) Click image to enlarge |
 Detail x-radiograph of the Madonna’s head and upper torso, 2010. Click image to enlarge |
 The 1932 cradle on the reverse of the panel. Click image to enlarge |
The painting is on a wood panel support, possibly poplar, which was thinned and cradled by Stephen Pichetto in 1932, shortly after the painting entered the Kress collection. (The treatment record, “Samuel H. Kress Foundation Art Collection Data,” is located in the object file at the Samuel H. Kress Foundation).
The preparation is characterized by vertical white lines, plainly visible in the recent x-radiograph, which occur randomly along the vertical grain of the wood. Areas of exposed wood on the reverse did not shed any light on the origin of these vertical lines. These same radio-opaque lines,appear in an early shadowgraph taken by Alan Burroughs before the 1932 restoration, i.e., before the panel was thinned and the cradle applied, proving that they are not a later, restorer’s repair applied to the reverse, but represent an original artist’s material applied to the front of the wood panel as part of the preparation. Prominent vertical cracks in the surface of the painting correspond with the outer edges of the anomalous striations. Detail shadowgraph of the Madonna’s head and torso, taken before the lead base putty and cradle were applied to the reverse in 1932. Click image to enlarge |
Although the materials used for the ground in the Allentown panel are fairly traditional, with gesso as the first layer, followed by a thin imprimitura of lead white, a commonly found preparation in this period, this does not explain the odd striations seen in the x-radiographs. The lead white imprimitura was rapidly applied in horizontal brushstrokes, and is clearly distinguishable from the vertical lines of the radio-opaque striations. There are several possible explanations. The panel may already have had wide cracks along the vertical grain that were filled with a lead based material before the application of the gesso. Alternatively, a previously prepared panel, with the gesso already cracked, may have been used., the cracks filled with a lead-containing material, and sanded prior to the application of the imprimitura.
The x-radiograph also reveals white dots in the areas associated with the striations, suggesting the presence of lead soaps. Dark spots in similar passages on the surface of the paint, may also represent lead soap aggregates that have migrated to the surface from the underlying lead-containing filling material.
This repair of faulty panels or grounds, done in the artist’s studio, may be a fairly common practice.
 Digital x-ray detail of the Madonna’s proper left shoulder reveals two radio-opaque vertical lines, denoted by red arrows. Associated cracking of the paint is seen corresponding to their outer edges. Additionally, bright white round dots seen scattered within the lines suggest the presence of lead soap formations. Click image to enlarge |
 Photomicrograph of the Madonna’s red robe shows an area of paint correspoding to one of the vertical radio-opaque white lines seen in the x-ray image. The dark spots represent areas where lead soap aggregates appear to have migrated from the underlying lead containing material. Click image to enlarge |
 Cross-section sampled from the Madonna’s red robe, photographed under dark field illumination, shows the imprimitura and gesso layers. Click image to enlarge |
 Cross-section sampled from the Madonna’s red robe, photographed under ultra violet illumination, shows the imprimitura and gesso layers. Click image to enlarge |
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