ALTARPIECE OF THE VIRGIN OF BASCONES, VALDIVIA

SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS 

- Characteristics of the wood*:

Oak, pine and walnut in the structure

Walnut and oak in reliefs

- Chemical analysis of the polychrome decoration*:

Original polychrome decoration: gypsum and animal glue preparatory layers; reds (vermillion), blues (azurite) and whites (white lead), egg tempera.

Baroque polychrome decoration: blues (artificial blue ultramarine), greens (copper oxide) and reds (organic lacquer). With the exception of lacquers and resins, the agglutinate used is protein.  

Should the use of gypsum in the original polychrome decoration be confirmed, then, as indicated by the results of this analysis, what we have before us is original Spanish polychrome decoration, not Flemish.  

- Infra-red reflectography used to detect decorative motifs under the successive layers of re-applied polychrome decoration.

*Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. Intervention report. Altarpiece of the Virgin. First section. Bascones altarpiece, Valdivia. Chemical analyses carried out in 1988 and 1989.