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

CHAPTER X 202 that of Adam, followed by that of Eve. Indeed, here as elsewhere, orders of precedence often impact the manipulation of wings (this topic is discussed elsewhere in this book, in the Chapter IX, entitled “Articulated works with instructions for use” ). · The wings with the Annunciation, the Singing and the Musician Angels The frames, sawn through in Berlin in 1894, are glued to a pinewood backing into which a rebate is cut. The panels have been reduced in height to fit into the rebate and cradled. Based on our observations from the frames of Adam and of Eve, we can reconstruct the state of the frames before being sawn in Berlin as follows: each of the frames contained eight elements: two stiles, a lower rail, a floating median rail on the closed side of the wing, and a semi-circular applied upper rail consisting of four pieces, two quarter-circles on each side of the panel (four pieces in total). The bottom rail is connected to the stiles with mortise and tenon joints and pegged. The median rail, floating on the panel, is secured to the stiles by half-lap dovetail joints. The dovetails are less visible than in the frames of Adam and of Eve. The curved rails are applied and pinned to the panels: they abut the stiles with reinforced scarf-joints. At the top of the curved rail, the two pieces of wood abut one another. Their union appears to be camouflaged by a strip of parchment (?). The upper rails are not structural parts of the frame. The outer bevel, on the closed wing side, was intended to frame a flat painting, as in the narrow wings. Here also the bevel was extended on the stiles and the set-backs in the stiles are explained by the changes undergone. Inside the altarpiece, the gilded curved rails are moulded only on the side next to the painting. The top of the upper rails has a sharp and irregularly sawn edge; the upper rail was probably continued, like the wings of Adam and Eve, by tracery work. The stiles next to the wings of Adam and of Eve have hollowed outer edges. This feature has already been discussed above. We can therefore conclude that the panels of the wings depicting the Angels before being sawn through and being slightly reduced in height to fit against a rebate in Berlin, had already had an upper part amputated, just like those of Adam and of Eve. · Interpretation of the construction of the upper altarpiece A lot of thought went into the design of the carpentry of the upper altarpiece. The median floating rails on the closed wings were positioned opposite the hinges, which they were intended to relieve by spreading the load over the two stiles. The half-lap dovetails joining this median rail to the stiles were intended to keep the construction square and prevent the splaying and/or sagging of the wings.