Beer was the backdrop to Danish Golden Age masterpieces | Science

It’s said that art imitates life, but painters in 19th century Denmark really took that adage to heart. The so-called Danish Golden Age of painting, which lasted from about 1800 to 1850, coincided with a particularly beer-crazed era for the nation. A new study out today in Science Advances suggests Danish artists used grains and yeast leftover from brewing to prep canvases for their masterpieces.

Painters during the Danish Golden Age are known for combining realistic scenes with soft, radiant light. To prepare a blank canvas, artists would prime it using substances that help pigments stick to the woven fabric. Today, painters most often use an acrylic polymer known as gesso, but 200 years ago, artists turned to a motley variety of substances.

At the same time esteemed painters like Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg—known as the “father of Danish painting”—and his protégé, Christen Schiellerup Købke, were creating their masterpieces, Denmark was awash in the boozy business of beermaking. Danes made and drank massive quantities of beer during this period, as the water from local rivers and wells was often unsafe. That meant lots of leftover beer byproducts. Historical texts hinted that Danish painters may have used these byproducts to prime their canvases.

To find out whether that was true, researchers analyzed the chemical composition of 10 paintings by Eckersberg and Købke. Working with tiny paint swatches about the diameter of a pencil tip that were originally collected during the 1960s, the scientists used mass spectrometry to identify the proteins present in the samples. They found ample quantities of proteins from common beermaking grains, including barley, buckwheat, wheat, and rye. The study’s authors speculate that brewers sold their byproducts to institutions like the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where artists repurposed the readily available substance as a binder to help pigments adhere to their canvases.

Identifying these proteins in paintings could help conservationists decide how best to display and preserve paintings, the authors note, as well as help differentiate authentic artwork from forgeries.

It’s said that art imitates life, but painters in 19th century Denmark really took that adage to heart. The so-called Danish Golden Age of painting, which lasted from about 1800 to 1850, coincided with a particularly beer-crazed era for the nation. A new study out today in Science Advances suggests Danish artists used grains and yeast leftover from brewing to prep canvases for their masterpieces.

Painters during the Danish Golden Age are known for combining realistic scenes with soft, radiant light. To prepare a blank canvas, artists would prime it using substances that help pigments stick to the woven fabric. Today, painters most often use an acrylic polymer known as gesso, but 200 years ago, artists turned to a motley variety of substances.

At the same time esteemed painters like Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg—known as the “father of Danish painting”—and his protégé, Christen Schiellerup Købke, were creating their masterpieces, Denmark was awash in the boozy business of beermaking. Danes made and drank massive quantities of beer during this period, as the water from local rivers and wells was often unsafe. That meant lots of leftover beer byproducts. Historical texts hinted that Danish painters may have used these byproducts to prime their canvases.

To find out whether that was true, researchers analyzed the chemical composition of 10 paintings by Eckersberg and Købke. Working with tiny paint swatches about the diameter of a pencil tip that were originally collected during the 1960s, the scientists used mass spectrometry to identify the proteins present in the samples. They found ample quantities of proteins from common beermaking grains, including barley, buckwheat, wheat, and rye. The study’s authors speculate that brewers sold their byproducts to institutions like the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where artists repurposed the readily available substance as a binder to help pigments adhere to their canvases.

Identifying these proteins in paintings could help conservationists decide how best to display and preserve paintings, the authors note, as well as help differentiate authentic artwork from forgeries.