Editing Dendrochronology (section)

=== Art history ===
Dendrochronology has become important to art historians in the dating of [[panel painting]]s. However, unlike analysis of samples from buildings, which are typically sent to a laboratory, wooden supports for paintings usually have to be measured in a museum conservation department, which places limitations on the techniques that can be used.<ref>[http://www.helm.org.uk/guidance-library/dendrochronology-guidelines/dendrochronology.pdf English Heritage Guide to Dendrochronology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023063338/http://www.helm.org.uk/guidance-library/dendrochronology-guidelines/dendrochronology.pdf |date=2013-10-23 }}</ref>

In addition to dating, dendrochronology can also provide information as to the source of the panel. Many [[Early Netherlandish painting]]s have turned out to be painted on panels of "Baltic oak" shipped from the [[Vistula]] region via ports of the [[Hanseatic League]]. Oak panels were used in a number of northern countries such as [[England]], [[France]] and [[Germany]]. Wooden supports other than oak were rarely used by Netherlandish painters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spronk |first1=Ron |title=More than Meets the Eye: An Introduction to Technical Examination of Early Netherlandish Paintings at the Fogg Art Museum |journal=Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin |date=1996 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=1–64 |jstor=4301542 }}</ref>

[[File:Mary Queen of Scots portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|A portrait of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], determined to date from the sixteenth century by dendrochronology]]
Since panels of seasoned wood were used, an uncertain number of years has to be allowed for seasoning when estimating dates.<ref>Peter Ian Kuniholm, [http://dendro.cornell.edu/articles/kuniholm2000.pdf ''Dendrochronology (Tree-Ring Dating) of Panel Paintings''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017230735/http://dendro.cornell.edu/articles/kuniholm2000.pdf |date=2013-10-17 }} Cornell University</ref> Panels were trimmed of the outer rings, and often each panel only uses a small part of the [[radius]] of the trunk. Consequently, dating studies usually result in a ''[[terminus post quem]]'' (earliest possible) date, and a tentative date for the arrival of a seasoned raw panel using assumptions as to these factors.<ref>{{cite book |first1=W. Stanley |last1=Taft |first2=James W. |last2=Mayer |first3=Richard |last3=Newman |first4=Peter Ian |last4=Kuniholm |first5=Dusan |last5=Stulik |title=The Science of Paintings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8J4Mhb1kjUC&pg=PR6 |year=2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-387-98722-4 |chapter=Dendrochronology (Tree-Ring Dating) of Panel Paintings |chapter-url=http://www.arts.cornell.edu/dendro/painttex.html |pages=206–215 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422142755/https://books.google.com/books?id=L8J4Mhb1kjUC&pg=PR6 |archive-date=2017-04-22 }}</ref> As a result of establishing numerous sequences, it was possible to date 85–90% of the 250 paintings from the fourteenth to seventeenth century analysed between 1971 and 1982;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fletcher |first1=John |title=Panel Examination and Dendrochronology |journal=The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal |date=1982 |volume=10 |pages=39–44 |jstor=4166459 }}</ref> by now a much greater number have been analysed.

A portrait of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] in the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]] was believed to be an eighteenth-century copy. However, dendrochronology revealed that the wood dated from the second half of the sixteenth century. It is now regarded as an original sixteenth-century painting by an unknown artist.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=live |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitConservation/mw04272/Mary-Queen-of-Scots#dendro |website=National Portrait Gallery |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017160354/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitConservation/mw04272/Mary-Queen-of-Scots |archive-date=2013-10-17 |at=Dendrochronology |title=Mary, Queen of Scots }}</ref>

On the other hand, dendrochronology was applied to four paintings depicting the same subject, that of [[Cleansing of the Temple|Christ expelling the money-lenders from the Temple]]. The results showed that the age of the wood was too late for any of them to have been painted by [[Hieronymus Bosch]].<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.atomium-culture.ilsole24ore.com/?p=78 |work=Atomium Culture |publisher=Il Sole 24 Ore |title=Tree Rings, the Barcodes of Nature, Illuminate Art History |first1=Alar |last1=Läänelaid |date=June 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018043013/http://www.atomium-culture.ilsole24ore.com/?p=78 |archive-date=2013-10-18 }}</ref>

While dendrochronology has become an important tool for dating oak panels, it is not effective in dating the poplar panels often used by Italian painters because of the erratic growth rings in poplar.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=live |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/dendrochronology |website=The National Gallery |title=Dendrochronology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017120656/http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/dendrochronology |archive-date=2013-10-17 }}</ref>

The sixteenth century saw a gradual replacement of wooden panels by canvas as the support for paintings, which means the technique is less often applicable to later paintings.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=live |url=http://www.getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/education/panelpaintings/ |website=Getty |title=Panel Paintings Initiative |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131123200401/http://www.getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/education/panelpaintings/ |archive-date=2013-11-23 }}</ref> In addition, many panel paintings were [[Transfer of panel paintings|transferred onto canvas or other supports]] during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.