Fontana's Changes

Technical imaging reveals Fontana's changes of mind.

Lavinia Fontana made an astonishing variety of changes, at all stages of production, to the composition of The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon (1599). The revisions came to light when the conservators examined the painting with infrared reflectography, a type of technical imaging carried out in the Gallery. By comparing this information with the data gathered from scientific analysis of the paint, the conservators can now explain some of the changes and have developed an understanding of Fontana’s process.

Ladies-in-waiting

One particularly striking revision came after Fontana had already blocked in the background and the body shapes and positions of all the main figures. She raised each of the portrait heads of the ladies-in-waiting, on the right-hand side of the painting, by between 3 cm. and 15 cm.

In the infrared imaging it is possible to see the initial, lower portrait drawings: the outlines of the women's hair, eyes, lips, and ears. It is interesting to note that, despite shifting the heads upwards, Fontana made no changes to their facial features or expressions, suggesting that she used some tracing or transfer method to achieve this revision.

A plate becomes a clock. The clock reveals a date.

Fontana changed, and in some cases replaced, the gifts carried by the Queen’s entourage. The traces of a decorative plate, held by one of the ladies-in-waiting can be seen with the naked eye, with a clearer depiction visible in the infrared imaging. Although the reason is unclear, Fontana replaced the plate with an ornate clock.

During the Gallery's conservation treatment an inscription reading “1599” was found, delicately painted on the base of the clock. Before this discovery, no firm date was known for the production of this painting, although most scholars had stylistically placed it in the years either side of the turn of the seventeenth century. Technical data shows that this part of the painting was one of the last to be completed, so the date was probably applied as a finishing touch.

Three campaigns of revision

Because of overlapping changes, we can tell that Fontana must have had at least three major campaigns of revision on this painting, waiting each time until the previous paint had dried. Given the time this took, and the loss of expensive pigment involved in each change, there must have been some compelling reason for Fontana to carry them out.

Video: Discovering the hidden details

In this short video, Maria Canavan, Paintings Conservator, discusses the hidden details of the painting revealed during technical examination.

This research was carried out as part of the Lavinia Fontana Conservation and Research Project.

Funding for the conservation of this artwork was generously provided through a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project.