In this artwork, how is the 17th-century copy and modern restorations of the Painting elucidated?
The lost original painting is attributed to Urban Målare by tradition.  However, historical sources and other works of art from the early Vasa Era are rare, and this attribution is apparently doubtful.  Furthermore, as the extant painting has proven to be a 17th-century copy, and not as previously believed a restored original, a credible corroboration is unlikely to ever be produced.In the parish accounts, the painting is first mentioned in 1636, at which time a "M. Jacob Conterfeyer" was recorded as having "renewed the painting hanging on the northern wall". Modern scholarship has convincingly identified Jacob Heinrich Elbfas (1600–1664), guild master from 1628 and court painter of Queen Maria Eleonora from 1634, as the artist responsible.  Based on the brief note referencing the painting's "renewal" in 1636, it was long assumed that the extant painting was in fact the original from 1535, and that the work performed on it in the 17th century was little more than restoration of some kind. However, when the painting was taken down in mid-October 1998 to allow a group of experts from various fields to restore and document it, this notion had to be completely reassessed. A dendrochronological investigation showed that the wood used for the panel came from trees cut down in the early 17th century: the painting in question must therefore be a copy and not the restored original.Notwithstanding the excellent state of the wooden panel prior to its 1998 restoration, the painting was unevenly covered with layers of dust and yellowed varnish. This was particularly pronounced in the area of the sky, obscuring many fine details and altering this area's colouring. Once these layers were removed, it was discovered that the original grey-blue sky had been repainted with broad strokes of a deep blue dye mixed with a fixing agent. An analysis of the blue pigments in the painting showed that the original blue colour, still discernible as a bright line above the horizon, was composed of azurite, while the blue pigment in more superficial layers was true ultramarine or lapis lazuli. The ultramarine layer has been identified as prussian blue, a pigment which was favoured from the early 18th century onwards. Additional alteration of the painting is well attested in parish accounts; the painting was "varnished and somewhat restored" by the painter Aline Bernard (1841–1910) in 1885, and a second time in 1907 by a Nils Janzon. The latter restoration was probably limited to the addition of a thick layer of varnish.When the painting was thus copied in the 17th century from the 16th-century original, the painting was furnished with a Baroque frame carrying a heart-shaped cartouche. This cartouche displayed the message:The twentieth day in the month of April was seen in the sky over Stockholm such signs from almost seven to nine in the forenoon"
in Latin, repeated in Swedish and German. In 1885, the frame was repainted in brown by Leonard Lindh, who also modernized the Swedish and German texts and added his signature at the lower right. During the 1907 restoration the frame was repainted yet again, only to be repainted in its original colour twenty years later, at which time the original text was also uncovered.
azurite painting Stockholm Jacob Heinrich Elbfas dendrochronological cartouche ultramarine Urban Målare Latin Baroque German horizon prussian blue Maria Eleonora dye right lapis lazuli