X-rays reveal how Paulus Potter stretched and enlarged his monumental canvases

X-radiographic examination of six monumental paintings by the Dutch animal painter Paulus Potter (1625–54) has shown how the young artist prepared, stretched and sometimes enlarged his large canvases. In the study, published in npj Heritage Science, the digitised X-radiographs were subjected to computer-assisted canvas analysis, using algorithms that produce thread density and thread angle maps. Together, these features distinguished two different types of support used at different stages of Potter's brief career.

The canvases he used during his early period around The Hague, from roughly 1647 to 1651, share features that connect their preparation closely to Potter's studio, indicating a consistent studio practice in the preparation and stretching of his supports during that phase. The X-radiographic evidence indicates that this canvas was enlarged by the artist himself during the painting process, showing that the painting's exceptional format was not planned from the outset but grew as the work progressed. After Potter moved to Amsterdam, where he worked from 1652 until his death in 1654, his approach to obtaining large supports changed.

The analysis found that he then employed exceptionally wide pre-primed canvases, a shift that marks a different practice in the final phase of his career compared with the studio-prepared supports of his Hague years. The X-radiographic data were complemented by additional material analyses. Cross-sections containing ground layers were examined, and microsamples of canvas fibres were taken from two of the paintings, providing further information about the materials used to prepare the supports.

By combining thread-level imaging with the study of ground layers and fibres, the research demonstrates how technical analysis of the canvas itself can document an artist's working methods, from fabric selection and stretching to later alterations of a painting's format during the creative process.

Subject of Research: X-radiographic analyses of large canvas paintings by Paulus Potter, and the enlargement of The Bull

Article Title: X-radiographic analyses of large canvas paintings by Paulus Potter, and the enlargement of The Bull

Article References: Vandivere, A., Schilder, J., van Loon, A., Verslype, I., Smelt, S., Blichfeldt Bjerke, I., & Swaton, I. (2026). X-radiographic analyses of large canvas paintings by Paulus Potter, and the enlargement of The Bull. npj Heritage Science. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-026-03025-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1038/s40494-026-03025-1

Keywords: X-radiographic, analyses, large, canvas, paintings, Paulus, Potter, enlargement, Bull, scientific research