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

CHAPTER X 274 120. Bücken and Steyaert 2013, 28-35. Panels: each wing panel consists of a single board. The central panel consists of three boards, butt-joined, with keys inserted in the edges. Each key is fixed by of four pegs, slightly out of line with each other, so as to avoid cracking the wood. The pegs do not pass right through the support, as shown by the absence of the circular cracking in the paint layer which occurs when a peg pierces the surface of the support on the painted side. On the reverse of the central panel, tow has been pressed over the joins (at a later date?). Frames: only the bottom rail of the central frame and a part of the accolades to the left and right are redone. The joints at the bottom of the frame are through mortise and tenon. At the top, the joints are half-dovetail, mitred at the front and cut square at the back. Dovetail joints are rare in picture frames of this period. They occur in better quality joinery of Brussels origin dating from the last quarter of the 15th century and early 16th century. 120 In many cases this joint is observed in frames carrying the Brussels joiners’ brand . As often occurs, the work was probably not intended to be hung but to be placed on a base. The horizontal grain of the wood of curved upper rail is ill-suited to hanging. The restorations to the curved upper rail of the central frame may well be related to hanging of the triptych, causing breaking. An oblique hole has been cut at the top of the frame; a tie would have passed through it to help hold the triptych in place and prevent it from tipping, for example while opening and closing the wings. The moulding of the frame is beaded cavetto , common in the 15th and 16th centuries and in widespread use in various cities (Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp,…). Here, the lower inclined sill is concave, while most are generally rectilinear, though concave sills are also observed on the frames of works by Quinten Metsys or his entourage. The opened triptych reveals gilded frames, with a thin black outside flat band. On the outside of the triptych, only the outer stiles (near the hinges) and the high curved upper rails are decorated, in various shades of grey. The Mass of St Gregory continues on two wings, ignoring the projection of the stiles. A second frame, in a lighter colour, is painted in trompe-l’œil on the panel itself. This second frame continues, as does the Mass of St Gregory, in wilful ignorance of the stiles to create the illusion that it frames a single panel where the representation is continuous and frontal. The figure of Christ occupies the centre of the composition; it is painted on the stiles themselves, regardless of the projections. The artist has subordinated the joinery to his pictorial programme. This is uncommon. Often the pictorial programme on the outside of a triptych is double (or split, as in the Annunciation) and painted on the planes of the two wings in a slightly oblique perspective, as if the altarpiece was ajar (See Chapter IX Articulated works with instructions for use ).