Unidentified artist Eighteenth century Overmantel from the Baldwin House, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, late eighteenth century

Technical Notes
The support is a single piece of tangentially cut pine with beveled edges. There is evidence of tooling (probably adze marks) on the back. A large knot in the panel has deformed the paint layer on the second tree from the left.

There is no ground layer. In general, the paint—probably oil based—is thinly applied. The areas of the sky, distant hills, river, and foreground appear to have been painted first, by means of a broadly brushed wet-into-wet technique. The trees, figures, houses, and boats were later applied over these painted areas by means of a wet-on-dry technique. The buildings in the distance were very thinly painted. Foliage in the trees was painted wet-into-wet, after the tree trunks were done.

Embossed lines, particularly evident on the tall center trees, suggest that some type of drawing tool was used to outline the general forms.

There is an extensive network of pronounced drying cracks with varying apertures, as well as a moderate network of age cracks that generally follow the wood- grain pattern. In addition, there is considerable abrasion and retouching throughout, especially in the trees, the distant town, and along the distant shore. The overall tonality of the painting has darkened considerably, probably because there is no ground layer.

The surface coating appears moderately thick and has discolored. The paint surface appears uneven.