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

ANTWERP, ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS 335 6. Master of the Guild of St George, Members of the Mechelen Guild of Crossbowmen with their Patron, St George and Two Saints , c. 1497 Inv. no. 818 Provenance: Mechelen Guild of Crossbowmen. Until 1852 in the Collection of engraver J. Hunin. Acquired for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp by L. Delehaye jr. in 1903. Bibliography: Vandenbroeck 1985, 84-90. Panel: three boards, placed horizontally; at the top, 5 cm piece inserted during a restoration; the panel has been painted in its frame, with a barbe and unpainted edge on the three original sides. Frame: four pieces; at top, slotted joints (?); below, mortise and stub tenon (?) in both cases mitred at the front and cut square at the back. The joints are pegged. Two notches at the bottom of one stile suggest that a slotted joint construction was abandoned in favour of a mortise and tenon joint (?). On the early black polychromy, the crossbow motif alternates with coats of arms carrying the cross of St George. In the 1985 catalogue, the frame is mentioned as old, but not original, but without supporting evidence. We see no a priori reason to doubt the original nature of the frame, but the fact that we have not been able to inspect either the reverse, nor the upper rail of the frame calls for certain reservations as to the interpretation of the joints.