Painting works by Anton Möller on the background of Gdańsk’s painting workshop of the last quarter of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century

Abstract

This works presents the research on painting technology and techniques of selected panel paintings by Anton Möller (1563/5-1611) and the paintings attributed to his workshop and circle of his artistic influences such as Isaac van den Blocke (before 1589-after 1924) and Hermann Han (1580-1627/8). Gdańsk’s painting of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries was a combination of technology and techniques derived from local traditions influenced by northern trends: German and Dutch, as well as their assimilated Italian art. The results of performed analysis revealed that the works by Anton Möller had a great influence on the development of the painting workshop in Pomerania. The white ground and grey imprimatura and colorful ground characteristic for the Gdańsk artist were identified, among others, in the Gronau epitaph and works by Hermann Han and Isaac van den Blocke. Artists working in this area could be influenced by the painting school of Anton Möller, and they could draw technical achievements directly from the Netherlands. The dominant pigments in Möller’s painting palette are lead white, lead-tin yellow, red and yellow iron pigments of natural origin, cinnabar, minium, organic red pigment, smalt, natural azurite, iron umber, charcoal. Anton Möller and Isaac van den Blocke as the only Gdańsk artists used natural ultramarine in their paintings. Anton Möller’s work distinguishes the use of bright colors similar to Italian and Flemish paintings. The artist in some way experimented with color. He used various colors of mortar, imprimatura, and underpainting to achieve the desired effect, including a white imprimatura for illuminating the surface of the painting or a pink gound layer for painting the sky. The composition of the painting was underpainted with brown paint that gave a warm tint. When painting garments, especially red, he used strong contrasts of shimmer, where the vivid red was assembled with a plane painted red with the addition of a large amount of lead white. These treatments were supposed to give the impression of luminosity, which brings even closer the way of color compositions with Italian painting. Anton Möller applied the principles of technology and painting techniques typical of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries in European art and belongs to a group of outstanding artists active in Gdańsk.