Underdrawings on 14th Century polychrome wood Sculpture

[stephanie]

A query from Diana de Bellaigue (National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, UK) concerning 'under-drawings' revealed during conservation investigation of a 14th Century Italian polychrome wood sculpture:
...and finally a plea to those working on early polychrome wood – we found what we think is an original under-drawing on our sculpture (early 14th century, Italian) in the course of conservation. Our curator is very keen to research the presence of under-drawing on sculpture further so if anyone has come across anything of this nature during their work we would be very interested to hear of it...

Do share your thoughts on this subject!

[H Howard]

Dear Diana,

We have found underdrawing used to set out the polychromy on a pair of fifteenth-century (?) northern Italian (?) wooden angels. We have evidence in IRR and also in paint cross-sections. Do get in touch directly if you would like to discuss this further.
Kind regards, Helen Howard and Paola Ricciardi
Polychromy Revealed Project
Fitzwilliam Museum
hh474@cam.ac.uk