SY‐XRF study of Hans Baldung Grien silverpoint drawings and the silver stylus from the ‘Karlsruhe sketchbook’

AbstractWe performed spatially resolved synchrotron‐induced x‐ray fluorescence analyses (SY‐XRF) of five silverpoint drawings from the famous ‘Karlsruhe sketchbook’ and a silverpoint, which is assumed to be an original one used by the Renaissance artist Hans Baldung Grien (1484–1545) himself. The silverpoint, one out of a very small number of ancient styli conserved nowadays, is fixed on the so‐called ‘Karlsruhe sketchbook’. Measurements were executed at the FLUO‐TOPO beamline at the electron storage ring ANKA. It has been shown, that SY‐XRF at this beamline is nondestructive and sensitive enough for the analysis of minor and major elements in the silver strokes. This study provides new insights into this graphical technique and ancient drawing instruments: results are that three drawings have been created with a common type of silverpoint containing about (10.4 ± 0.7) wt% of Cu. In all the cases, Hg at a 10% level by weight was identified in the strokes. Presence of Hg is not due to the original silver alloy, but is a result of a general alteration phenomenon of silverpoint drawings. This fact is confirmed by the analysis of the original silverpoint, which contains only small traces of Hg. The result for the copper content of the silverpoint (10.4 ± 1.7) wt% is in good agreement with that of these three drawings. It is supposable that the silverpoint found attached today served for the creation of the corresponding drawings. Moreover, the graphical technique of Baldung is found to be continual over three decades. Only one very late drawing dated to 1543 was probably realized with another silverpoint, containing about 3 wt% of Cu. This difference in the chemical composition of drawings from the late period might be used as a more precise dating indicator of Baldung drawings that are not clearly attributed to a certain period. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.