Scientific Analysis and the Analytical Scientific Evidence for the de Brécy Tondo Being a Renaissance Painting

A resume of the twenty years of the comprehensive scientific research effort expended on the de Brécy Tondo since 1983 to the present time includes optical microscopy and molecular and elemental spectroscopic analyses to determine the pigments used in the artist’s palette, which all conform to the Renaissance period and include mineral pigments and dye extracts from botanical plant species in admixture with other pigments and glazes. Identification of the ground materials and resins used to impregnate the canvas, oils and binders. Recording of script marks on the reverse of the canvas: Felice RV, HM with Crown. Subsurface interrogation yielded information about the underdrawingsUnderdrawing, pricking and pouncing, and pentimenti, which afford a clear indication to connoisseurs that the painting is an original artwork and not a later copy as they are a signature of an artistic “work in progress”. Some early remedial conservation work supplied information about the canvas and its treatment prior to the painting being undertaken. All the scientific evidence clearly points to the Tondo as being a Renaissance original art work and the pigments are consistent with their usage in Raphael’s palette. The scientific analysis of seven Raphael paintings in the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery , London and that of the Sistine MadonnaSistine Madonna in the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, DresdenDresden are compared.