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TSR’s Infrared Reflectography help the Holburne Museum to firmly attribute their ‘Wedding Dance in the Open Air’ to Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Bruegel Publication

‘Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty’ Exhibition, 11 February – 4 June 2017

TSR were very excited to undertake infrared examination of the Holburne Museum’s ‘Wedding Dance in the Open Air’. In recent times, much study has been undertaken on paintings based on the compositions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder to try to distinguish his work from that of his sons, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder, their studios and later pastiches based on these incredibly popular motifs. The highly characteristic underdrawing revealed in the infrared reflectogram confirmed the Museum’s attribution to Pieter Brueghel the Younger. This newly discovered masterpiece adds to the Holburne Museum’s outstanding collection of Bruegelian art, which includes ‘Robbing the Bird’s Nest’ and ‘Visit to a Farmhouse’, making it the primary collection of Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s work in the UK.

A book to accompany the exhibition Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty, which includes reflectograms by TSR, is written by Dr. Amy Orrock and published by Philip Wilson, and is now available to purchase.

Links in the Press

Today Programme, Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04fg153

The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/nov/06/brueghel-family-art-show-holburne-wedding-dancers-centre-stage

The Art Newspaper http://theartnewspaper.com/news/newly-discovered-breughel-to-go-on-show-in-first-uk-exhibition-on-the-dynasty-of-painters/

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TSR Contribute to the NPG’s ‘The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered’

The Real Tudors NPG Exhibition

The Real Tudors
NPG Exhibition

Building on the huge body of research undertaken for the Making Art in Tudor Britain project, the NPG mounted a ground-breaking exhibition which used technical analysis to explore the representation of the five kings and queens of the Tudor dynasty. The Real Tudors re-examined Royal Tudor portraiture attempting to see these portraits in a new light, as they would have been viewed in their own time, by using the latest tools of scientific investigation to better understand the development of these iconic images. For example, the two portraits of the young Edward VI are both echo Holbein’s Whitehall prototype of Henry VIII (Edward’s father) and depict the boy standing with his feet wide apart. Infrared reflectography of the 1547 portrait of the boy king clearly shows that the feet were initially set even further apart before the artist realised that this would appear a little to exaggerated for a nine year old boy.

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/realtudors/display.php