The Green Curtain

Painting before treatment, note yellow curtain at right
One of the more curious visual elements of this painting exists in the curtain at the right of the composition. When this painting was acquired by the museum in 1952, most of this curtain had a much more yellow appearance than the curtain on the left. The curtain on the left had a thin, intense green glaze over the yellow and brown modeling, used to create the illusion of folds in the fabric. This kind of color anomaly is not evident in other works by the artist. Under magnification, the curtain on the right had remnants of a thin layer of green, which was found over the yellow, and a layer of brown, used to create shadows and highlights of the folds. Using infrared reflectography, the color notation "gron" (green) was discovered under the curtain on the right, supporting the idea that the curtain was originally green. X-ray flourescence confirmed that the element copper was present in both curtains, indicating the green glaze was probably a copper resinate. This particular pigment has a tendency to darken and is sensitive to solvents used to clean pictures. These characteristics may account for the fact that it was partially removed in the past by a restorer attempting to clean the painting. The green glaze is better preserved in the lower left portion of the curtain, the conservators and curators made the decision to "replace" the missing glaze using modern pigment and resin that can be easily removed. The present appearance is more balanced and closer to the artist's intention.
Detail: Green curtain after treatment

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