The Pietà di Ragusa panel: A science-based contribution to its dating by dendrochronology, wood anatomy and pigment analysis

Abstract This paper discusses the results of scientific investigations on a panel painting whose past attribution to Michelangelo has been recently taken again into account. The panel was investigated by means of dendrochronology, wood anatomy and pigment analysis. The wooden support is made of spruce and its last tree ring was dendrochronologically dated to 1497. Taking the time for wood working and seasoning into account, the terminus post quem for the creation of the painting is between 1525 and 1535. According to chemical analysis, the paint's binder is mainly egg tempera with some parts in fat tempera and finishings on the sky with azurite in glue tempera over a layer of smalt bound in fat tempera. These pigments are coherent with the expected period and help to date this panel. Obviously, we cannot confirm that Michelangelo himself painted the panel, but our results are coherent with his lifetime (1475–1564) and executive career. Our study contributes new science-based data to an on-going art historical debate. Aim The aim is to locate the chronological and geographical contexts by scientific analyses of the painted panel “Ragusa Pieta” under debate because of a possible attribution to Michelangelo who is believed to have painted it for Vittoria Colonna.