Frames and supports in 15th and 16th-century Southern Netherlandish painting

CHAPTER I 10 53. Klein 1981, 113-123; Klein 1986, 226-237; Klein 1987, 29-40. 54. Fraiture 2007. 55. Fraiture 2013, 4. 56. Fraiture and Dubois 2011, 322-324. 57. Fraiture and Dubois 2011, 316. 58. Sosson 1977, 105. vegetation and the nature of the supports in various regions (Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Flanders, Holland and England). In this way the school could be determined from the identification of the wood. The importance of the timber trade at that time had not escaped this author. She believed, however, that the imported wood went no further than the Netherlands, where it was used in the large shipyards. Numerous studies in the field of dendrochronology have modified this view and show that the painters from the Netherlands painted on panels assembled from oak from the southern Baltic sea coastal region. 53 Recent research by Pascale Fraiture involves both archeological and dendrochronological analysis of a corpus of nearly 150 panels on oak ( Quercus sp) produced from 1450 to 1650 in the Southern Netherlands. 54 Frames are not included in this study, as wood used for the frames does not provide the minimum number of rings. Fraiture considers that at least seventy to eighty rings are required; the higher the number of tree rings, the more certain the dating. 55 The wood for the frames probably also came from the Baltic, but there is no certainty about its provenance. Till the First Northern War (1655-1660) the wood for panel painting came almost exclusively from the Baltic region. However, Pascale Fraiture and Hélène Dubois note a decrease in the quality of the boards from the end of the 16th century onwards, along with a diversification of Baltic sources that started after 1565. Until then, Gdansk was the most important timber exportation centre. Afterwards centres such as Königsberg and Riga played an important role. The decrease in quality is expressed by the progressive reduction in width of the boards, corresponding to the exploitation of smaller trees. Between 1441 and 1500, 30% of the planks are wider than 30 cm. This width class falls to 14% beginning of the 16th century, to 6% during the second half of the 16th century, and disappears in the 17th century. The decrease in quality is also reflected in the combination of Baltic wood and boards of western provenance, in boards with variable width from edge to edge, and boards with deviations in the grain (with curved medullary rays). 17th century boards were not as long and wide as in the 15th and 16th centuries. 56 Tangentially cut boards occur, although they are rarely found before the introduction of mechanical saws. 57 Baltic timber was also used in public works at the time, alongside local resources. The accounts of the City of Bruges in the 14th century show payments for timber from the Ardennes and the county of Liège on the one hand, and from Germany and the Baltic basin on the other. These accounts mention, in 1368-1369 and in 1413-1414 “Danzekins tienvoetshout”, that is to say Gdansk timber in 10 feet lengths. 58 This is the wood from Königsberg (the “Coninbergh tienvoethouts” mentioned in the 1383- 1384 accounts). Also mentioned on various occasions are “Pruussche Plancken”