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

MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES: memling 269 115. Certain aspects of these inscriptions have been studied by Maurits Smeyers (Smeyers 1997, 171-194). The frame of the Portrait of Jacob Obrecht is different from all the frames mentioned above. Although the joints are not visible on the narrow sides (being camouflaged by a thin strip of modern wood), they are probably slotted joints, mitred at the front and cut square at the back, pegged on either side of the mitre. This joint became generalized in the 16th century (fig. 140). The earliest examples we have seen are from Antwerp. One is dated 1507. The present example is the oldest (1496). 3. Polychromy The gilding of the Moreel Triptych is redone. The frames of the Gdansk Triptych have modern gilding overlaying the original polychromy. The black and gold polychromy inside the St John Altarpiece is probably also redone (?); the marbling on the outside of the wings is original. The most common original polychromies are black and gold. The oil gilding borders the paint layer and at times carries an inscription. 115 The gilding covers the mouldings or the inclined sills and at times the flat bands (fully or partly). In the Cologne Nativity , the entire front face of the frame is gilded except for a black outer edge that evokes a listel. The Maarten van Nieuwenhove Diptych (Bruges, SJH , no. 5 ) has a gilded inclined sill and moulding, with an entirely black flat band. The frame of the Barcelona Christ at the Column is gilded with an outer listel painted black. The flat band between the black outer listel and the gilded inner moulding can be decorated with marbling, as in the Floreins Triptych (Bruges, SJH , no. 2 ) and the Reins Triptych (Bruges, SJH , no. 4). A similar polychromy is found on the frame of Christ Blessing (Boston, dated 1481 at the top centre of the frame): dark brown flat band between a black listel and a gilded inside profile. Marbling or imitation stone decorates the frames of Gilles Joye and The Sibyl Sambetha (Bruges, SJH , no. 3 ), the latter with a black outer listel. We also find it on the outsides of the wings of the Floreins Triptych and the Reins Triptych and that of the St John Altarpiece (Bruges, SJH , no. 1 ). Fig. 140. Slotted tenon joint.