Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Lake View, 1901, oil on canvas, 84cm x 57cm Photo: Finnish National Gallery /Hannu Pakarinen

Observations on the Painting Technique and Materials Used in the Painting of Lake View, by Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Katariina Johde, Conservator, BA, and Hanne Tikkala, MA, PhD Student, Senior Researcher, Conservation Unit, Finnish National Gallery

A museum visitor observes an artwork on a museum wall on average for a few seconds or minutes. The conservator quickly checks the condition of a painting before and after every exhibition to make sure the condition has remained unchanged during the exhibition. The condition report, with detailed drawings, descriptions and photos, takes perhaps half an hour to make. Would new and noticeable information come to light if one were able to look at the painting for hours with bare eyes, microscopes, in different electromagnetic wavelengths, with different instruments and cameras?

In our day-to-day work as a conservator and a materials researcher, we make observations of the structure and the surface of the paintings in more detail than a regular viewer. In this article we present some aspects regarding the painting technique and the materials of the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s (1865-1931) painting Lake View, from 1901[1] (Fig. 1). Usually, this painting is exhibited in the main collection exhibition in the Ateneum Art Museum and is a very popular work that draws in our museum visitors. In recent years it has often been loaned to exhibitions in Finland and around Europe. Every time it has returned to the Ateneum the research has continued and as a result the painting has been studied very carefully, especially over the past two years.

Originally, we decided to study Lake View more deeply because of its beautiful and informative radiograph (Fig. 2). We had already X-rayed a large number of Gallen-Kallela’s works but as we were analysing the radiograph of Lake View, we started to recognise characteristic features in the brushwork, which appeared repeatedly in his paintings. The radiograph and other analytical photographs of the painting were very illuminating and strengthened our understanding of the artist’s painting technique. However, important new information was also found just by looking at the painting very closely with the naked eye. Markings on the edges and on the reverse of the painting gave us information which led us to visit the archives and to investigate his original painting materials.

[1] Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Lake View, oil on canvas, 84cm x 57cm, Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum, A-2010-173.

Featured image: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Lake View, 1901, oil on canvas, 84cm x 57cm, Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum
Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Pakarinen
Public domain. This image of a work of art is released under a CC0 licence, and can be freely used because the copyright (70 full calendar years after the death of the artist) has expired.

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Ferdinand von Wright, An Eagle Owl Seizes a Hare, 1860 oil on canvas, 105cm x 119cm Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen

Eagle Owls on the Hunt – Technical Analysis of Two Paintings by Ferdinand von Wright

Kirsi Hiltunen, Katariina Johde, Hanne Mannerheimo and Seppo Hornytzkyj
Finnish National Gallery conservation and material research team, Helsinki

Also published in Erkki Anttonen & Anne-Maria Pennonen (eds.), The von Wright Brothers – Art, Science and Life. Ateneum Publications Vol. 99. Helsinki: Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum 2017, 149–56. Transl. Wif Stenger

Rarely does one have the chance to study two almost identical paintings. Ferdinand von Wright’s pair of paintings An Eagle Owl Seizes a Hare (Finnish National Gallery, inventory No. A I 58) and Eagle Owl Attacking a Hare (Lahti Art Museum, inventory No. LTM D 45) offer an opportunity to compare the works using technical analysis of the materials. Both works were painted in 1860. We know that the work belonging to the Finnish National Gallery (FNG) was bought directly from the artist for the Finnish Art Society collection in 1864. Lahti Art Museum’s painting originally passed from a private owner to the Viipuri-säätiö (Vyborg Foundation) and then on to the Lahti Art Museum. We also know that one of the paintings was taken to Germany, apparently with the aim of selling it, soon after its completion.[1]

The pictures are like those in a children’s puzzle where the viewer has to spot 10 mistakes. Close inspection reveals minor differences: a missing blade of grass, or grass bent in different ways, or some variation in the form of the rocky outcrop. The FNG’s eagle owl painting is slightly larger, with a more spacious feeling. The painting style in the Lahti work has more sharp contrasts, and rougher details. Was it a draft for the FNG’s painting or a later repetition? Was it painted more quickly? Why were two such similar works painted? Is it possible to use technical art-historical methods to obtain more information about the sequence in which they were painted?

[1] Magnus von Wright’s journal entry 16 June 1860: ‘B. A. Thunberg and family undertook their trip abroad tonight. – Took with them Ferdinand’s eagle owl and hare.’ Wright, Magnus von, 2001. Dagbok 1850–1862. Eds. Anto Leikola, Juhani Lokki, Torsten Stjernberg & Johan Ulfvens. Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, nr 600:4. Konstnärsbröderna von Wrights dagböcker 4. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 16 June 1860 (401). It is assumed that Thunberg took one eagle owl work to Germany, but it is unclear which one. Information from Jukka Ervamaa, 9 Dec. 2016.

Featured image: Ferdinand von Wright, An Eagle Owl Seizes a Hare, 1860, oil on canvas, 105cm x 119cm
Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum
Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Hannu Aaltonen

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