Diagnostic investigations and historical-stylistic evaluation on the oil painting: "reading man by oil lamp light"

Abstract

This investigation intends to verify the attribution of the oil painting (70x50,5 cm) portraying a reading man by oil lamp light, to Gerrit van Hontorst. The note refers not only to a stylistic and historical-artistical evaluation but also to the knowledge, through diagnostic techniques, of the application to characterize components of matter, and of the manufacture execution technique and preservation conditions. This investigation denies the attribution to the painter Gerrit van Hontorst, but it does not exclude a dating within the XVII century.