Unidentified artist Eighteenth century Landscape (View of a Town), after 1753

Technical Notes
The wooden-panel support consists of two horizontally joined boards. The edges are beveled and set into a groove in a wooden frame molding. There is a split along the joint of the two boards. The back of the panel was infused with wax in 1948.

There is no ground layer. The paint was first broadly applied to establish the sky, river, and land. The details were painted later, by means of a wet-on-dry technique; the artist apparently began with elements in the distance and proceeded to those in the foreground. Figures and boats were among the last features added. The painting has an extensive network of branched age and drying cracks, both with narrow apertures. Slight flaking in the paint layers occurs along the wood grain of the panel. There is extensive overall abrasion, particularly in the foliage of the trees and the water area in the foreground. There is retouching throughout, much of it discolored. Figures appear semitransparent due to abrasion and changes in the aging paint layer. Among the numerous scattered losses are those in the center of the distant mountains, on the church steeple, in the water of the foreground, around a knot in the wood panel in the bottom right, and in the group of swans near the left riverbank. A gouge through the paint layers and into the wood support extends down from the central boat with figures; another gouge occurs in the upper-left sky area.

The surface appears stained and discolored, probably due to past applications of oil coatings. The overall darkening of the paint layers is thought to be largely the result of the paint being applied directly to the wood support with no ground layer.

According to treatment records, the present varnish consists of a coating of PVA applied in 1948. A hard-wax surface coating applied in 1955 may still be in place. The surface is uneven and dull.

Frame Notes
The edges of the painting are set into a plain wooden frame similar in construction to a paneled door. The corners have mortised joints that are secured with wooden pegs, and the inner edge is mitered.