The Last Supper as a starting point for the study of the workshop practices in the group Pieter Coecke van Aelst

This article hopes to gain new insights into the workshop practices of the Antwerp painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst. The starting point for this study is the series of paintings with The Last Supper, traditionally attributed to this artist and his workshop. Four versions were examined with infrared and the results are presented in this paper. The paintings, all made in the same period 1528-1531 according to their dates, show differences as well as similarities in underdrawing and painting techniques. Two of the paintings, in Liege and at the Vittet Gallery in Paris, show a very similar underdrawing method, which points towards a workshop routine. Within this routine, two different hands were probably at work. The underdrawing and painting technique of the version in 's-Hertogenbosch are so dissimilar that it can be assumed that this painting was created outside Coecke's workshop. In this case the composition is not to be exclusively associated with Coecke.