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PAINTING MATERIAL ANALYSIS Technical material research complements art historical and technical painting research. In Painting Material Analysis, the materials that have been used are first identified. Next, the places on the painting where these materials occur are carefully determined. Finally, the properties of the identified materials are cross-referenced with the painting technique of the artist in the object of research. Our technical material research did not restrict itself to an analysis of painting materials, but also focused on the suppliers of painting materials, namely the lead mining industry and the subsequent ore treatment process and production of paints. 1. Painting Materials 1.1 – The Source of Manet's Paints & Supplies: Maison Blanchet Jobarde is mounted on a twentieth-century stretcher, onto which the remnants of a nineteenth-century stretcher have been screwed [Fig. 40]. These remnants carry the mention: “Blanchet 17, Rue de Grenelle 17.” In her The Barbizon Painters: A Guide to their Suppliers, Stéphanie Constantin mentions that Laurent Blanchet’s art supplies shop was located at that address from 1868 to circa 1885.12 The studio at rue de Saint-Pétersbourg 4, where Manet moved in 1872, was three kilometres from the rue de Grenelle. Although the nineteenth-century stretcher bears the mention Maison Blanchet, we have found no concrete evidence of a link between this supplier and Manet. 1.2 Stretcher & Canvas
Fig. 40 The backside of the painting
The nineteenth-century stretcher of Jobarde is made of épicéa or pinewood. The canvas on which Jobarde is painted is described as à grain or lisse. The edges of the canvas have been cropped, making it impossible to determine the original measurements of the painting. However, the composition, the placement of the monogram, the title and the name of the horse indicate that, considering Manet’s working method, the painting would not have been much larger than it is now. It is almost impossible to present exact information about the size of most of Manet’s canvasses because they were seldom made according to standard measurements.15 He invariably adapted the proportions of a painting to its contents
