The Virgin Enthroned with Child: Dating, attribution, and historical reconstruction of a Flemish masterpiece

The panel painting depicting the Virgin Enthroned with Child underwent dendrochronological, multi-spectral, and stylistic/documental analyses. Dendrochronology facilitated the determination of the terminus post quem, which was 1492. Robust correlations with the Baltic1 reference chronology and its recent update, 2021BLT1, indicated a likely origin of the timber in the central-eastern Baltic area. Multi-spectral analyses, such as IR-reflectography and false-colour infrared analyses, aided in identifying preparatory drawings, compositional revisions, and later additions resulting from restoration efforts. By comparing the analysis results with the painting's recent history reconstruction, doubts regarding its possible attribution were effectively addressed. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the painting was executed by the so-called Frankfurt Master around the year 1508.