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

LARGE WORKS 125 20. Goris and Marlier 1937, 26. 21. “Onder seer veel wercken/ het besonderste en vermaertste stuck van hem ghedaen/ is geweest d’hoogh Altaer-tafel te Middelborgh/ een seer groot stuck met dobbel deuren/ die men in’t open doen om de grootheyt met schragen moest onderstellen. Den vermaerden Albert Durer t’Antwerpe wesende quam dit stuk met groot verwonderen sien…” Van Mander, f° 225v 07, quoted from Miedema 1994, 1, 160-161. 22. Goris and Marlier 1937, 26. 23. The unusual production of this support is described by Griet Steyaert, who believes it to be original and to precede the painting. Bücken and Steyaert 2013, 150-153. of Middelburg. 20 Karel Van Mander, who did not see it – the altarpiece having been destroyed in the abbey fire of 1568 – speaks of it in the following terms: “A very large piece with double shutters which, when opened, one had to support with trestles on account of their size. When in Antwerp, the celebrated Albert Dürer came to see this piece with great admiration… .” 21 Albrecht Dürer did indeed make a detour to Middelburg to see it, and mentions it in his journal of his journey to the Low Countries in 1521. 22 In the St Petrikirche in Dortmund is one of the largest extant Antwerp altarpieces (H 6 m and W 7.50 m in open position). From the two pairs of wings, the outer pair is entirely painted (54 painted scenes). The second pair is painted on the outside, carved inside. The open altarpiece presents 30 carved scenes. The wings are supported by props. The evolution continued with the curved top that appears in the early 16th century. On the central portions, the upper rail was often formed of two pieces abutting one against the other. A certain Renaissance elegance led to their being widely adopted for both large and small items. E. Curved works At the time that accolades and curved shapes were popular, it is possible that a certain rationalization of the cutting process came into being. Many triptychs with curved tops are between ± 0.80 and ± 1.20 m high, while the longest boards generally available were ± 3.40 m long. It is tempting to suggest that a single curved cutting operation could form, for one and the same triptych, the curved top of the central panel and that of the top of the two wings (fig. 69a-b). A curious composite support, that of the Last Judgement by the Master of the Prado Redemption (Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), provides a clue here. A curved cut passes through the centre of the painting, where two panel fragments meet. 23 This very unusual cut in the middle of a painting probably points to a change of plan. The joiners have gone to great lengths to recreate a rectangle, with one of the two parts of the support cut back with a rebated curve into which to fit the other part. While this very particular case is not representative of the rationalization