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

LARGE WORKS 119 16th century: Bernard van Orley, Triptych of the Last Judgement (Antwerp, RMFA , no. 10 ): 208 × 174; Bernard van Orley, Passion Altarpiece (Bruges, Church of Our Lady): 375.5 × 297; Anonymous, Protestant Family at Table (Bruges, GM , no. 25 ): 123 x 210; Quinten Metsys, Triptych of the Brotherhood of St Anne (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 9 ): 221 × 214; Anonymous, Christ with Reed and Calvary with Donatrix and Female Religious , 1558 (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 28 ): 127 × 219. That is, boards of 212, 214, 225, 223 cm (± 8 feet). C. Maximum dimensions of the boards. Assembly of vertical and horizontal boards The dimensions of the large altarpieces were based on the available length of boards. We have seen how Renier Cox, the carpenter in charge of the decoration of Leuven City Hall, was sent in 1467 to Antwerp where he acquired “boards for painting” of twelve feet in length, 4 from which he produced the support for the Justice of Emperor Otto III by Dirk Bouts. The Last Judgement , now lost, which the artist produced on panels made from the same batch of boards, was six feet high. This is indicative of the economics governing the working of the wood, since the carpenters sawed in half the boards acquired in Antwerp for the second work. André-Jacob Roubo, when speaking of the ideal size of a joiner’s workshop, says that the workshop should have a headroom of at least twelve and a half feet, because “twelve feet are a regular length of pieces of wood”. 5 Twelve feet seems to have been the maximum length of oak boards available (see also the Chapter I on Cutting and drying of the wood) . The Passion Altarpiece by Bernard van Orley (Bruges, Church of Our Lady) exceeds the other works in length. The central panel has in the central curved portion two horizontal boards placed on top of the vertical boards of ± 311 cm in length. This feature is noteworthy as an approach adopted to solve the problem of the maximum length of boards. While thick wood items like beams and joists are joined lengthwise by splicing, in the case of thinner boards, horizontal boards are placed on top of vertical ones. Bernard van Orley’s altarpiece, commissioned in 1531 by Margaret of Austria for Bourg-en-Bresse, has been carefully studied in the context of a restoration. 6 4. Van Molle 1958, 7-17. 5. Roubo 1977, 50. 6. De Vos et al. 1983-1984, 106-134.