La Spezia: in-depth studies on the paintings of Pieter Brueghel the Younger at the Amedeo Lia Museum

La Spezia: in-depth studies on the paintings of Pieter Brueghel the Younger at the Amedeo Lia Museum.

In recent days, in the room dedicated to Pieter Bruegel the Young Man currently on display at Amedeo Lia Civic Museum, in-depth investigations were carried out on his paintings using Infrared Reflectography with equipment made available by the Laboratory for multispectral analyzes of the Department of Italian Studies, Romance Studies, Antiquities, Arts and Entertainment of the University of Genoa, in the presence of teachers Maria Clelia Galassi and Paolo Triolo and the collaboration of the officials of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan city of Genoa and the province of La Spezia, Rossana Vitiello and Valentina Tonini, and the director Andrea Marmori.

The aim of the investigation was to analyze the presence of a preparatory drawing beneath the pictorial layers, the so-called underdrawing, in the version of the Crucifixion by Peter Brueghel the Younger from the church of Saint-Severin in Paris and in the painting by the same author depicting the Climb to Calvary in the Estensi Galleries of Modena.

The underdrawing, invisible to the naked eye, becomes perceptible in Reflectography, since the infrared band manages to overcome the pictorial layer, which appears semi-transparent.

Particularly exciting was the investigation carried out, in agreement with the Direction des Affaires Culturelles, Conservation des œuvres d'art religieuses et civilis de la Ville de Paris, on the Crucifixion of the church of Saint-Severin, which revealed the presence of a drawing very detailed and of great quality both in the figures and in the landscape that forms the background to the scene.

Equally interesting was the analysis carried out, with the agreement of the Management of the Estensi Galleries of Modena, on the painting depicting the Ascent to Calvary; also in this case an underdrawing emerged which provided precious information on the processing and construction phase of the painting.

The final results of the investigations, compared with those already carried out on the Crucifixion of Castelnuovo Magra and documented with educational panels within the exhibition itinerary, will be made known in a specific event at the Lia Museum as a corollary to the exhibition which will end on 5 November 2023.

Please note that the exhibition, curated by Rossana Vitiello, official of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the province of La Spezia, with the collaboration of the director of the Lia Museum, Andrea Marmori and the restorers Valentina Tonini and Martina Avogadro, can be visited at a cost of 8 €, including entry to the museum collection.