‘Meleager and Atalanta’ by Jacob Jordaens

A painting long thought to be an 18th century copy has been confirmed to be a 17th century work by the famed Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens (a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens).

Thought to have been owned by the Swansea Museum for about 150 years, the panel painting had been largely overpainted, probably in the 1970s, and had been kept in the museum’s storage facilities, away from the public’ eyes. It was previously unknown to art historians, but is now recognised as a work in which Jordaens tests his ideas for the composition of his most famous work, Meleager and Atalanta, which hangs in the Prado museum in Spain.

A crucial clue came with the discovery of panel marks on the reverse of the painting, which combine the letter A with the coat of arms of the city of Antwerp, Jordaens’ home town, and which experts were able to use to prove that the panel must have been made between 1619 and 1621. The Prado work was most likely painted during the late 1620s.

Simon Gillespie Studio removed the extensive and garish overpaint, which lay on top of a layer of discoloured varnish, to reveal the artist’s original colours and composition, and beautiful sketchy brushstrokes. The artist’s original paint was found to be in good condition. The joins between the five planks that make up the panel were repaired. Although the panel was reasonably stable, with fluctuating humidity there was a risk that it might flex and change shape, so we built a microclimate chamber within the existing frame in order to limit changes in relative humidity around the panel which can cause the wood to swell and shrink and result in damage to the paint layer.

The painting has now been put on display at Swansea Museum.

Bendor Grosvenor has written about this artwork on the Art UK website.