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

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES: the ghent altarpiece 207 15. Van de Velde 1909, 66-69; Sosson 1977, 144. 16. Geelen and Steyaert 2011, 383-393. The same comment for the brocades painted by Coxcie, Geelen and Steyaert 2011, 394-397. altarpieces, the flat supports for paintings, antependia , and the hutches of carved altarpieces. 15 But they did not have exclusivity of these tasks, as carpenters were also permitted to undertake them. Carpenters supplant joiners in some areas. They are the only ones permitted to produce large-sized civil and religious furniture and everything fixed to wall and floor. Joiners are allowed to produce movable furniture items not exceeding certain dimensions. The concordat text goes even further in defining the exclusive territory of either group (see Chapter II ). A similar arrangement could well have applied in Ghent, which would explain the difference in structural conception between the upper and lower altarpieces with the upper altarpiece produced by carpenters and the lower one by joiners. The entire process of reflection on supporting the weight of the wings, and the use of curved rails as a weight deflection system point to a dynamic conception of the construction. Nibbed scarf joints are used more frequently in carpentry than in joinery to lengthen sections of wood. The rudimentary nature of the mouldings of the upper altarpiece suggests clumsiness or inadequate equipment. The damage occurring early on to this unique frame must have discouraged imitators. The design of the supports of other large altarpieces reflects the same concern to avoid the sagging of the wings, but other solutions have been adopted. 2. Painted elements related to the duality of the altarpiece and to the articulation of the upper part a) The text in the applied brocade behind the Virgin and St John the Baptist (fig. 107) The brocades behind the three central figures of the upper altarpiece have been studied in meticulous detail, 16 but the texts on the banderols behind the Virgin and St John the Baptist have not received the attention they merit. They are inscribed in relief and there is no doubt as to their originality. It has been repeatedly stated since the 19th century they were either fanciful or illegible, based on very damaged and reworked texts. However, in an inconspicuous place under St John’s hand, a perfectly preserved half banderol presents a text totally readable on the X-radiograph (fig. 107a). On the same X-radiograph, to the right of St John’s raised hand, the same first letter of the inscription is visible on another banderol. Considering the first letter (B?) differs from one banderol to another (figs. 107a-b), one may suggest they were written individually on each banderol. To the right of St John’s mantle, on the X-radiograph of another half banderol, one can read the second half of the inscription (fig. 107c).