The fine network of cracks usually goes un-noticed, except in light passages such as flesh or sky. It was also assumed that they were not associated with any out-of-plane distortion of the paint. It was assumed that these cracks had no specific colour, but were just darker than the paint they disrupted. This investigation into the perceptual effects of craquelure was restricted to those cracks that formed slowly by brittle failure of dry paint. Aged varnishes therefore visually ‘flatten’ paintings. However, the perspective of envelopment – warm colours in the foreground going to cool colours in the background and high contrasts in the foreground going to low contrasts in the background – may be severely disrupted by an aged varnish. Any illusion of depth that is created by geometric perspective will continue to function when seen through the yellow filter of an aged varnish. VarnishĪ discoloured and textured varnish layer tends to interfere with the reading of depth in a painting. The effect of varnish upon the perception of the pictorial image has been widely acknowledged, but the perceptual effect of craquelure – the pattern of cracks that naturally develops across the face of a painting – has been neglected.
The illusion of pictorial depth can be compromised by visual features that emphasise the surface of a painting. The Effect of Cracks on the Perception of Paintings by Spike Bucklow Introduction
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