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

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF FRAMES 137 1. Bücken and Steyaert 2013, 29. 2. Syfer-d’Olne et al. 2006, 71. 3. Vanaise 1970, 112-134, quoted from Bücken and Steyaert 2013, 31. acquired a Brussels support for the work preserved in Bruges. The Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi (Bruges, OLPM , no. 3 ) is probably a Brussels production of the early 16th century. We would add that the Passion Triptych by Bernard van Orley (Bruges, Church of Our Lady) also carries the Brussels joiners’ mark on several boards at the back of the panel. We were unable to observe the upper joints of this large altarpiece. An assembly with half-dovetail joints mitred on both faces has been observed in the wings of the Triptych of Jan Floreins by Hans Memling (Bruges, SJH , no. 2 ). This form of jointing is an old one, as we have also observed it in one corner of the Braque Triptych of Rogier van der Weyden (Paris, Louvre, inv. no. R.F. 2063). Maybe we should see in the joinery of the Floreins Triptych confirmation of the supposed link between Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling? The Braque Triptych by Rogier van der Weyden is dated from around 1452. This tells us that dovetail joints were in use already at an early stage, even if found mainly in works from 1480 to 1520. The inventory begun in 1989 was supplemented in 2013 by Véronique Bücken and Griet Steyaert with cases mentioned in the literature and those they themselves have identified. 1 The authors list in their catalogue those frames having dovetail joints and not carrying the Brussels joiners’ mark. They also list the carved altarpieces either carrying the Brussels joiners’ mark or with dovetail joints. As another feature of Brussels painting, the authors mention the red coloured background to the grisailles on the reverse of many of altarpiece wings. Possibly we have here a memory of the red-painted backs of paintings of an earlier period (14th and early 15th centuries). Paintings where the Brussels mark is found together with dovetail joints are: Master of the Life of Joseph, Zierikzee Triptych (Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. nos. 2405, 4168, 2406); 2 Master of the St Catherine Legend, Adoration of the Magi Triptych (Binningen, Heiligkreuzkirche); Aert van den Bossche, Adam and Eve (Geneva, Galerie de Jonckheere). In three further cases, it was not possible to observe the upper joints: entourage of Jan van Coninxlo, St Anne Polyptych (Brussels, Forest, Church of St Denis); 3 attributed to Jan Joest, Triptych of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, 1505 (Palencia, Cathedral); Anonymous, St Barbara and St Gudula (Private Collection).