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

CHAPTER VIII 146 2. Cavetto In 6 cases, the cavetto is carved directly into the same board as the panel (fig. 71). This is a moulding that, like ogee moulding, was simple and well suited for the difficult task of carving directly into the panel. Fig. 71. Frames with a single body of mouldings: cavetto mouldings. Brussels : 1. Antwerp, MVB , no. 14 (Master of the Magdalen Legend, Virgin and Child ) – Ghent : 2. Van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece (Ghent, St Bavo’s Cathedral). 3. Ghent, MFA , no. 3 (Master of the Lineage of St Anne, pair of wings with the Lineage of St Anne ) – Antwerp : 4. Bruges, GM , no. 10 (Master of 1518 (?), Temptation of St Antony ) – Other or not defined : 5. Antwerp, RMFA , no. 1 (Anonymous, dismantled wings with the Coronation of the Virgin and the Annunciation ). 6. Tongeren, BOL , no. 1 (Anonymous, Triptych of the Reliquary of the Virgin’s Veil ). 7. Antwerp, MVB , no. 7 (Anonymous, Salvator Mundi ). 3. Cavetto with beading 51 frames with beaded cavetto moulding are found between 1436 and the last quarter of the 16th century (fig. 72). Most date from the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th. The bottom rail is generally an inclined sill. The sill of the Triptych with Christ on the Cross and Donors by Quinten Metsys (Antwerp, MVB , no. 13 ) is concave, as we note also in other works by this artist or his workshop. In the case of the Calendar Dial (Leuven, MM , no. 2 ), the bottom rail has been replaced, which precludes any judgement as to its original appearance. Cavetto moulding with beading appears three times on integral or semi-integral frames. The one semi-integral frame (stiles carved into the same wood as the panel and rails applied) we found with this moulding is that of the Virgin at the Fountain by Jan van Eyck (Antwerp, RMFA , no. 3 ). Profiles nos. 18-19, 21-23 are from frames assembled with half-dovetails and carry the Brussels joiners’ mark (compass and plane) (fig. 72: 18-19, 21-23). In its most widespread form, this moulding invades almost the entire surface of the frame, leaving only a narrow flat band on the outer rim.