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

CHAPTER IX 186 39. Verougstraete and Van Schoute 1997b, 272-274. As they stand today, the six panels with their glued frames come from three panels, each sawed along the grain into two thinner ones (± 2 mm). Careful observation and comparison of the breaks, cracks, and traces of sawing have revealed that the following panels were positioned back-to-back: coat of arms and Death; Redeemer and Vanity; Hell and skull. The frames, glued onto the supports, present two types of mouldings. In three frames (the skull, the coat of arms, the Redeemer), the frame is bevelled on the picture side; in three other frames (Vanity, Death, the Redeemer) there is a cavetto moulding in the same position. It would appear normal that the two frames forming the outside face of the wings (the skull and the coat of arms) should be bevelled. Should we attribute special significance to the difference between the frame of the Redeemer and the three other gilded frames? The polychromy has been largely redone, but probably picks up the original colours and gilding. Four frames are gilded. Two are plentifully coated in green and brown paint; they correspond to the outside of the object and conform to the convention of painting the exterior with a modest colour, reserving the richer gold for the interior. Closed, the object forms two diptychs. Upon opening, the major diptych reveals the Redemption. Once closed and turned over, there is a second diptych to unfold, more hidden and intimate. The hierarchy of the two diptychs was made visible by the use of Roman capital letters on the Heavenly Redemption diptych, and Gothic lettering on the Earthly Vanity side. 39