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

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES: the ghent altarpiece 215 28. Dhanens 1976, fig. 6; Dhanens 1980, 378. 29. Coremans 1953, 38; Church accounts, 1584-1585, fol. 21v. 30. Dhanens 1980, 115. Elisabeth Dhanens proposes a diagram of the Vijd Chapel, in which two separate altars are positioned one above the other under the beginnings of a canopy. 28 We have borrowed her front elevation of the chapel in preparing our figures. a) The 15th century (fig. 110) · The two altarpieces On the altar, a predella adorned with a painted subject carried the lower altarpiece. Above this first altarpiece, a second altarpiece rested on metal supports anchored in the masonry. As usual, each altarpiece was also attached to the wall at the top, so as not to fall forward, for example when the wings were rotated. The space between the two altarpieces was limited and access to the upper altarpiece made as easy as possible. The narrow wall of the Vijd Chapel did not permit the wings to be opened flat. On the other hand, when the altarpieces were closed, the four panels of the Annunciation fitted the width of the wall. The plan was that, when opened, the angels would be exposed perpendicular to the central part, and Adam and Eve at right angles with the angels. The instruction for this positioning of the upper wings, when opened and shut, is given by the shadows painted in trompe-l’œil on the panels, as explained in the second part of this notice. Roger Marijnissen and Antoine De Schryver say they do not understand the terms two pieces (“twee sticx”) used in the archives. 29 In our opinion this refers to the two altarpieces, even if the exact wording is “[…] in tdragen van twee sticx van de tafel van Adam ende Eva van up stadhuus tot in de keerke” . The designations “painting of Adam and Eve” or “altar of the Mystic Lamb” can at times refer to both altarpieces simultaneously ( pars pro toto ) . · The canopy According to Elisabeth Dhanens, a carved canopy surmounted the altarpieces. 30 The remains of this canopy were removed in the 19th century and the last traces disappeared during the restoration of 1950-1951. The author publishes an architect’s drawing of the chapel with the departure of a vault which would have carried the canopy. She sees in the interpretation “en buste” of the three main characters of the upper polyptych from the early 16th century, attributed to Jan Gossart (Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. P01510), an evocation of the canopy. But one can also suggest that Gossart is evoking the upper part of the large central paintings, decorated with tracery which was removed during the French Revolution. One may ask if another painting in the Prado, the Fountain of Life (inv. no. P01511) , inspired by the Van Eycks’