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

CHAPTER IX 184 a diptych showing St Christopher and the Baptism of Christ, each time with a red sky (corresponding to a state of semi-opening/closing). Then, depending upon which wing was unfolded next, one of two triptychs would be revealed: with the opening of one wing, the three scenes of the Infancy of Jesus come into view; with the opening of the other, three scenes from Christ’s adult life. The final opening reveals the entire story of the Redemption. Fig. 95. Reconstruction of the dismantled Antwerp-Baltimore Quadriptych. Proposal for its opening, each unfolding revealing different scenes, and therefore, narrative sequences. When closed, the little polyptych is painted red. The initial opening reveals red skies which correspond to a first incomplete opening. The Nativity (outside uniformly red), and Resurrection (outside: St Christopher ) (Antwerp) and the Annunciation (outside: Baptism of Christ ) and the Crucifixion (outside uniformly red) (Baltimore), c. 1400, each element 37.9 × 26.5 cm, original frames in Antwerp only. Laths like those still in place in the Dordrecht piece could have been used in the Antwerp-Baltimore Quadriptych, as shown in the reconstruction. The little pegs still in place in two of the frames served to fix these laths. The current dismembering of the quadriptych is the result of the desire to split into two equal parts (both times one