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

CHAPTER X 242 c) Mouldings Van Eyck’s frames have simple architectural profiles. From the boundaries of the picture and towards the outer borders, most of them present a double cavetto, a half- round batten and a flat border. Double cavettos have been observed in earlier examples of the 14th century, but they seem no longer in use after Van Eyck. The flat border varies in width. In one case there is a small ledge at the outer boundary of the frame ( Dresden Triptych ). This ledge will frequently be adopted for the late 15th century frames in Bruges. The frames of St Barbara and of the Vera Effigies have a single cavetto (instead of the double cavetto seen elsewhere), a moulding frequently in use during the 15th century. The moulding of the Portrait of Margaret’ s frame, with taenia, groove and ogee also occurs in this period. The innermost moulding of the Ghent altarpieces’ frames is a rather roughly carved ogee. This moulding has no equivalent in 15th century Netherlandish frames; it might have been inspired by older models; for example, it occurs rather frequently in 14th century Bohemian frames. d) Polychromy On the frames, the original polychromy falls into at least three categories: gilded frames, brown border with inscribed text, stone and marble imitation. Reverses of panels, or outsides of wings are adorned with red and green jasper. · Gilded frames Gilded frames are found in the Ghent altarpieces, Portrait of a Man ( Self Portrait ?). Both bear the oldest dates in the artist’s oeuvre. · Opaque brown flat border with an inscribed text An opaque brown flat border all around the painting with an inscribed text in illusory relief is found in Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele and Jan de Leeuw . With its outer brown border inscribed all around the painting, the central frame of the Dresden Triptych belongs to this category. The description made in 1748 of the frame of the Rolin Madonna (Paris, Louvre, inv. no. 1271): “bordure de bois… [avec] des lettres qui paroissent en bosse” suggests that the Rolin frame belonged to this group as well. Next to the brown border, gilded and/or marbled mouldings develop towards the innermost border of the frame. The recurrence of a text in trompe-l’œil relief on a brown colour developing all around a painting reflects a particular illusory intention. On other gilded, marbled and stone imitation frames, inscriptions, in the upper and lower rails only, often seem carved, either on the flat edge ( Portrait of a Man ( Self Portrait ?), Portrait of Margaret van Eyck ), or in the mouldings ( Virgin at the Fountain ).