Paint layer
Technique
Azaleas is painted with oil on canvas where a range of techniques were combined during painting.
Ensor used red and blue painted lines when developing his design for the small scene at top left (the painting within the painting). These lines are grainy in texture which suggests that the paint was applied quite dry. The sketchy blue lines of the head in the self-portrait have remained fully visible in the end result. Under magnification we can see that these lines have partly intermixed with the white paint layer below. This latter layer must therefore have still been wet at the time the figures were added.
fig 17: Detail at top left showing the design of the self-portrait sketched in with paint and a thin brush.
fig 18: Detail of the eye of the self-portrait at top left of the painting under magnification (x40).
The face of the Madonna is developed in a similar manner in red paint. Here, the painted lines were partly obscured beneath the subsequently applied paint. Ensor chose not to fill in the various coloured areas completely, as can be seen in the face and its outline, as well as in the Virgin’s clothes and in other parts of the painting. In many places, the coloured areas do not touch allowing the underlying tone of the ground layer to play a role in the painting. This would have allowed Ensor to work quickly. The lower half of the easel on which the painting of the virgin is displayed is left entirely unpainted. Therefore the whitish-yellow ground and the thin white imprimatura serve as the colour of the easel.
The artist used a fine, hard-bristled brush to fill in the area of The virgin of Consolation
with coarse brushstrokes going in all directions. For the highlights, he used thicker paint applied with a similar brush. For the details of the face he used a finer, soft-bristled brush applying the paint more dilute.
fig 19: Face of the Virgin.
fig 20: Grainy texture of the sketch in red (x25).
fig 21: Detail of the painter’s easel showing how the lower half of the easel has remained unpainted. It is the colour of the ground and the thin white paint layer which determine the colour of the legs.
fig 22: The same detail under UV light in which the unpainted parts of the composition are easier to distinguish with their light blue fluorescence.
By choosing to apply his paint in various ways, Ensor created a subtle play on textures to convey the material qualities of the objects he was painting. It is in the execution of the plants that we encounter the greatest variety in textures.
The flowers of the azalea were painted rapidly with a coarse brush, causing a streaky effect. Ensor worked predominantly with a red lake, mixing it directly on the canvas with white paint to create a lighter shade. The red lake is also combined with a darker colour for shadowed areas, applying these on top of the red tone he had already applied. He also built up the green leaf of the plant from a ground tone, adding white for highlighted areas, and intermixed with darker tones for the shadows. He added the outline of the leaves with rapid, dark green strokes and added yellow-toned accents here and there.
fig 23: Detail of the azaleas showing how the red lake was applied with a stiff brush, leaving visible brushstrokes.
fig 24: The green leaves of the azaleas were worked up from a ground tone mixed with white for the highlights and with a darker green for the shadows.
In contrast to the leaves, the flowers are painted with thicker paint. The marks left by the hard bristles are very noticeable.
The paint has an unusual, waxy texture with a distinctive pattern of craquelure. The adhesion between this paint layer and the underlying paint and ground layers appears problematic. Under magnification, a granular structure is visible in the largest cracks of the paint layer. This is evidence of material loss.
fig 25: Detail of the red lake in the azaleas under magnification (x40) showing extensive craquelure.
Ensor used dilute paint for the leaves of the plant at the right of the painting. In some areas, his technique was closer to watercolour than to oil paint. Examples include brushstrokes that end in drips. He added a few highlights in thicker paint on top of this diluted paint.
fig 26: Detail of the painting showing the leaves painted in diluted green paint Dilute to such an extent that drips formed in several places.
fig 27: Detail of the painting in raking light showing highlights added in thick paint on top the green plant’s thin, dilute paint layer.
Ensor also used dilute paint for the wicker baskets. His brushstrokes were streaky with quick strokes added on top of the horizonal basketwork. He employed a very different technique for the porcelain statue left of the basket. Here, he overlaid his paint strokes quickly, piling up the paint until it was quite thick. He blended his colours together on the canvas rather than on his palette. For the shadow by the statue’s leg, Ensor used the back of his brush to scrape away some of the wet paint. Similar scraped paint can also be found here and there in the pink azalea flowers, but to a lesser extent.
fig 28: Detail of the lower left corner of the painting where it is visible how the legs of the porcelain sculpture were applied with thick paint. This is in strong contrast with how the wicker basket on the right was painted in transparent, dilute paint. On the far left of the image we can see how Ensor scraped paint off the blue paint layer with the back of his paintbrush.
In the scene at top left, Ensor scraped paint away for figurative purposes. For example, he used the back of his paintbrush to scratch flowers into the green background and seems to have used a palette knife to scrape paint away for the flower with the pink centre.
fig 29: In this part of the painting, Ensor scraped flowers into the still wet paint layer with the back of his brush or a palette knife.
fig 30: Detail photo of a flower with scraped paint under magnification (x9).
The background was created around the already painted flowers and plants. As seen elsewhere in Ensor’s work, the brushstrokes of the background are applied diagonally, in this case from top right to bottom left. Ensor used shades of blue, white, pink and green, running a vertical paint stroke through them in some places. Ensor may have wanted to create a mother-of-pearl effect, like the inside of a shell.
He also played with texture by dragging and dabbing a hard-bristled brush in nearly dry paint. We can see this, for example, in the flowerpot, where he created the appearance of a rough surface.
fig 31: Diagonal application of the background with some short, vertical paint strokes.
fig 32: Rough surface texture of the flowerpot.
Damage and restorations
Under UV light, pronounced drips or stains can be observed in the left-hand azalea. These black stains are visible to the naked eye, mostly in the dark red of the flowers and are inherent to Ensor’s technique, belonging to the design stage of the painting. The artist worked with dilute paint causing drips on the surface. These drips are found beneath the actual paint layer, but the transparency of the upper paint means they remain visible.
In various places, grey-brown paint strokes have been applied on top of these black drips. Although these look like retouches on the UV image, they appear to be original paint strokes applied by the artist to locally camouflage the black drips. The fact they are so visible under UV light suggests that Ensor did not add these strokes immediately after completing the painting. The painting was donated to the museum in 1937 by Oscar Fischer. In 1944, it was photographically documented by the KIK.2 These apparent retouches
are already visible on that photo. Therefore, as the work was only restored in 1996, these retouches
must pre-date 1937.
It is one of the rare paintings in the collection where drips caused by the artist’s technique have been covered over.
fig 33: Black blotches visible beneath the paint layer. Some of these have been partly concealed with greyish paint.
fig 34: The grey paint layer concealing the black drips or stains is particularly visible in the UV image, showing up as dark blue paint strokes.
fig 35: Photograph of 1944 from the KIK-IRPA collection on which the black drips or stains are visible. CC-BY KIK-IRPA, Brussel.
https://www.kikirpa.be/nl/fig 36: Recent photograph in normal light for comparison.
In the small scene at top left a lot of white globules are present in the paint layer. A similar phenomenon has been observed in other works in the collection. It is unclear whether this is simply the texture of the paint layer or whether it is a sign of some sort of degradation process. The globules might be metal soaps.
fig 37: Location of the detail photo of the white globules.
fig 38: Grainy texture of the white paint layer under magnification. These could be metal soaps.
Signature
At lower right in red paint and partly in pencil, Ensor
.
fig 39: Signature in normal light.
fig 40: Signature in the infrared image showing the pencil lines present under/on top of the paint layer.
Pigment use
The descriptions below are based on measurements taken with PXRF on 25 different points on the painting by Dr. Geert Van der Snickt in the context of his doctoral dissertation.3
White: Nearly all the measurements detected zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), small amounts of calcium (Ca) andiron (Fe). The presence of iron probably indicates the use of an earth pigment in the ground layer; this would account for its yellowish colour. The artist opted for zinc white paint in the paint layer itself.
Red: Ensor predominantly used one or more sorts of organic red lake. These cannot be detected with PXRF The same colour appears in many of Ensor’s works, above all from 1890 onwards, with the occasional earlier exception (unless, of course, they are later reworkings). Ensor used this red lake extensively in this work. This can be seen from its typical pink/orange fluorescence under UV. Ensor applied this red lake (a pigment usually associated with translucent glazes) in a very pasty manner; this partly explains its heavy craquelure. In addition to this lake, the measurements also included traces of mercury (Hg), indicating the use of vermilion.
Blue: The measurements established the use of cobalt. Here, Ensor applied this blue in a more dilute form and often mixed with white, in contrast to his works of the 1890s. Not all the measurements taken in blue areas detected cobalt, so it is probable that Ensor used two different blue paints here, of which the other may be a synthetic ultramarine. Ensor used a combination of two different shades of blue in several works.
Yellow: Typical for Ensor’s late period, he used cadmium yellow in this painting.
Green: Ensor also opted to use a combination of different shades for the green areas. The green in the azalea consists of a combination of copper arsenate (most likely Emerald green) and chromium oxide (chrome green or viridian green). Chrome was also measured in the other plant, but no copper was detected there. Iron was measured in the brown shades, which indicates the use of an earth pigment.
Damage and restoration:
The damage is mostly concentrated in the red lake. That paint layer is very fragile from the heavy craquelure and there is material loss in several places. There are also traces of restorations as there are remnants of wax and cotton wool found in several places in the paint layer.
Small paint chips are present on top of the paint layer here and there. The most probable explanation is that no consideration was given to loose paint flakes during the re-lining process and therefore paint flakes got attached in the wrong places. Lacunae are present in at the edges of the painting as well. In some places there are deposits of grime on the red lake. These grainy particles have stuck to the top layer of the red lake. This may have occurred when the canvas was lined; the heat employed would have made the paint layer slightly sticky.
fig 41: Detail with visible small islands (x25).
fig 42: Detail: grime embedded in the red lake (x25).
