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

CHAPTER X 238 67. It is known that sculptors competed with joiners in the making of supports for painters. Sculptors and joiners belonged to the same guild, and the joiners were entitled to hire a sculptor in their workshop. Van de Velde 1909, 109-110. b) Construction All frames listed above are made of oak and belong to two different types: · Semi-integral frames The mouldings are carved with the grain in the same piece of wood as the support, while the others, carved separately, also with the grain, are attached across the grain to the panel by means of pegs. The back surface is usually plain and flat. This system is observed in Eyckian frames over a period of at least seven years (1433-1441) and occurs mainly in small paintings with a support made of a single board ( Virgin at the Fountain , Portrait of a Man ( Self Portrait ?), Jan de Leeuw , the central panel of the Dresden Triptych , the Thyssen Annunciation Diptych , the Louvre Diptych ) (fig. 120). The frames display mitred joints, sometimes half-mitred joints, e.g. the Dresden Triptych . One may assume that sculptors carved these frames, since the mouldings were particularly well crafted and no joinery was required, just some pinning. 67