"Christ carrying the Cross": a surviving "sarga" by Luis de Morales: technical examination and workshop practices

• Autores: Rafael Romero Asenjo, Adelina Illán Gutiérrez
• Localización: The Renaissance Workshop / David Saunders (ed. lit.), Marika Spring (ed. lit.), Andrew Meek (ed. lit.), 2013, ISBN 978-1-904982-93-7, págs. 98-104
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The generic concept of "sarga", understood as painting in an aqueous medium on an unprepared canvas, needs reviewing following the discovery of new pictures of this type that further our knowledge of this painting technique. "Christ carrying the Cross" by Luis de Morales (c. 1509-1586) is one such case. In this painting, which has typical features passed down through the Hispano-Flemish tradition of Spanish "sargas", Morales modified the painting technique to adapt it to the subtle surface qualities characteristic of his brushwork, above all through the use of linseed oil as a binder. The findings made in this study, such as the use of a canvas prepared only with a glue sizing, suggest that Morales was moving away from the rules, or ordinances, laid down in trade regulations such as the "ordenanzas" of Córdoba (1493) and Málaga (1611), towards the painting procedures that would be described by Francisco Pacheco in his treatise on painting, the "Tratado de la pintura" (1649). With a view to describing the Hispano-Flemish tradition in "sarga" painting, a study was also made of certain technical aspects of a pair of paintings of this type of Castilian origin that may date from the end of the fifteenth century that were also treated at the Icono I&R studio in Madrid.