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

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES: the ghent altarpiece 193 In part three, we have tried to visualize in six figures what spectators saw in the Vijd Chapel between 1432 and 1986, i.e. between the completion of the work and its transfer to the Villa Chapel. Our information comes from various sources, primarily laconic archive entries, rare old photos, texts painted on the frames and panels, and the original frames of the wings. All this information provides an opportunity to synthesize the various sources of material in which the study of the frames has an important part to play. We will see for example that we can count at least five successive frames for the central parts: the original frames, destroyed during the French Revolution and replaced by neo-classical frames in Paris, black and gold frames upon return from Paris, gilded frames in 1920, new gilded frames in 1950. The joining of the two altarpieces to form a single unit began in the 19th century and was completed in the 20th. All this relates a turbulent history and damage at different stages. The upper altarpiece has been shortened at the top so that we no longer know its original shape or size. The overall presentation has lost its former splendour. Security considerations have guided the choice of the current Villa Chapel for exhibiting what has become a single altarpiece. The laborious development of these six figures has helped us to raise questions, and to formulate answers and hypotheses, including the steps of the gradual rapprochement of the two altarpieces. For this we have started from recent periods, which are better documented, and then continued backwards to the earliest times, ending up with reconstruction of what the altarpiece originally looked like in the 15th century. The arguments and hypotheses are presented in the figures and discussed in the text. 1. Panels and frames For the panels that form the support for the paintings, the reader can usefully consult the extensive report, accessible on-line, by Jean-Albert Glatigny and his team. 4 The same website “Closer to Van Eyck” reports the interesting results of the dendrochronological examination. 5 Unsurprisingly, the wood used is Baltic oak. Three times a pair of planks from the same tree was identified. Finding planks originating from the same tree within a single group is not uncommon. What is surprising, however, is that the left board of the Divine Lord panel and the second board from the bottom of the Adoration panel come from the same tree. This tells us that the joiners who constructed the first panel and those who constructed the second both drew from the same stock of boards. Our contribution focuses on the construction of the frames. At the time of preparation of this text for publication, the study of the polychromy, very important for the understanding of the altarpieces, is under way and we very much hope that the results will be published. We have not been able to benefit from it, but were able to make some observations with the microscope prior to restoration on the frames of Joos Vijd and St John the Baptist of the lower altarpiece. The decor is a painted trompe- 4. See note 3 . 5. Fraiture 2011b; Fraiture 2013.