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The celebrated écorchés of honoré Fragonard, part 2: The details of the technique used by Fragonard
Author(s) -
Degueurce Christophe,
vo Duy Sung,
Bleton Jean,
Hugon Paulette,
Cadot Laure,
Tchapla Alain,
Adds translated by Philip
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
clinical anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1098-2353
pISSN - 0897-3806
DOI - 10.1002/ca.20937
Subject(s) - varnish , turpentine , honor , medicine , larch , pinus <genus> , art history , polymer science , art , botany , composite material , computer science , chemistry , biology , materials science , pathology , operating system , coating
It is remarkable that the famous é corch é s of Honoré Fragonard have survived the centuries to reach us today. Studies carried out by several teams have established details of the technique used by Fragonard that help to explain their longevity. The injection of the vessels was achieved by means of a mixture of mutton tallow and pine resin diluted in essence of turpentine and essential oils. This gave Fragonard a very high success rate. Above all, he did not add pigments to his mixture while injecting the veins, and this facilitated the procedure. The vessels were painted after preservation to give them the vivid colors that we can still see today. Another detail that explains their exceptional conservation is that the varnish used by Fragonard was composed of Venice turpentine, made from larch resin and known to repel insects. Clin. Anat. 23:258–264, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.