What is Under the Paint Layer of the Rode Altarpieces

Abstract

In art research today, technology-based investigation that looks under and into the visible layers of a work of art has assumed an important position alongside the pictorial idiom. With the help of these examinations, information is acquired about the means and methods used to create a work of art and about the position of the work in the general studio practice of a particular artist or period.The focus of the project called “Rode Altarpiece in Close-up”1, which was started at the Art Museum of Estonia’s Niguliste Museum in 2013, is to assemble material-technical information on the retable of the St. Nicholas’ Church high altar to complement the detailed information related to art history2; and based thereon, to examine this monumental work in the broader context of the artistic practices of the time. In addition to the retables in Estonia, there are also plans to conduct comparative examinations on the other works attributed to Hermen Rode’s workshop. The first step was taken in 2014,