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

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES: Eyckian paintings 245 76. Cockx-Indestege et al. 1994, 35. 77. “The red imitation marble on the front of the frame changes half way across the side of the frame on both panels to black, covering the whole of the back and enlivened with decorative splashes of red, white and green… In view of the care and precision with which van Eyck depicted different rocks elsewhere, it cannot be correct to maintain, as it has repeatedly been that this decoration is meant to imitate marble or porphyry. It is much more plausible that the artist did not want to leave the reverse sides totally unpainted, but to give them a neat, crafted, decorative finish.” Quoted from Bosshard 1992, 4-11. See also Eisler 1989, 50-61. 2. Remarks concerning certain paintings The Portrait of Margaret van Eyck (Bruges, GM , no. 2 ): the frame around Margaret is not particularly well made. The lower rail is carved irregularly. The pins securing the lower corners are small and round, while in the upper corner large square pins have fissured the wood, perhaps since the beginning. The tenons visible on the X-radiograph are larger in the lower joints. The differences between the upper and lower joints of the frames are unusual. The frame is moulded in ogee on both front and reverse. Though this ogee is frequent in 15th century frames, it is different from the mouldings on other Eyckian frames. The decoration of the frame has already been described. On the reverse, the panel is decorated with red jasper. While the polychromy of the frame is worn, the marbled paint is exceptionally well preserved, as if it had never been retouched. The surface has an opaque gloss with little or no varnish. The illusion of marble is astonishing. The successive layers are as follows: a white chalk layer, a layer of black paint, some small white dots (some feathered), a red glaze, and a final layer with drops predominantly of red paint, some smaller white drops, perhaps some varnish, if any. The stains trapped between the black layer and the red glaze create depth and an illusion of transparency. The red drops aim at various effects. Their contours, diffuse or sharp, differ depending on whether they fell on a wet or a dry surface; they also depend on whether the drop fell from high or low, resulting in more or less splashing. Some drops are feathered over the surface, creating a haze. Very small dots were projected forcefully, probably by rubbing the brush against the finger or a screen-grid. Some stains shrunk while drying, leaving a hazy contour; this was probably achieved by adding certain substances. This skilful realisation is similar to the technique adopted on so called “spatter paper” used for centuries in the field of bookbinding . 76 Only a very fine crack pattern, limited to the red lake, is visible under the microscope. Van Eyck’s jaspered reverses do not always reach the illusory perfection seen in the Portrait of Margaret ’s reverse . Neither on the reverse of the Thyssen Annunciation 77 nor on what remains on Thimotheos’ is a similar effect achieved, but this may be due to different states of conservation.