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

MATERIALS AND MEN 35 116. Van Tyghem 1966, I: 47. 117. Roubo 1977, 87. The 16th century, the heyday of shaped-top altarpieces, usually consisting of combinations of ogee and reverse ogee forms, saw more intensive use of templates, shaped to guide the path of curves. What were, in some old representations, thought to be squares 116 are, we believe, in fact templates. These templates (fig. 6: 58-59) are made of very thin sheets of wood inserted into a grooved length of wood to prevent warping, and removed for use. It may be that the right-angled corner of this template served as a square piece, a tool described by Roubo 117 as a piece of thin wood cut at right angles, about a foot long, that is placed at each corner of a frame before final assembly to check that everything is square. This piece of grooved wood into which it was fitted possibly served also to check the thickness of the tongue. Fig. 9. Sawyers, carpenters and joiners at work. Hieronymus Wierix, Scenes of the Childhood of Jesus , 1553-1619 (Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium). a. The Infant Jesus and St Joseph sawing wood with a sawyer’s two-man saw. At St Joseph’s feet are a hammer, wedge and toolbox. In the foreground, from left to right, a mallet, template, splitting axe, chisel and compass. b. In the foreground, a felling axe. An angel holds a measuring rod marked in feet. Another angel is helping St Joseph saw the felled trunk crossways with a hand saw. The trunk rests on a small X-shaped sawing trestle that can be seen behind the saw blade. The two thick, round sticks serve as levers; trunks were placed so as to able to move them by rolling. c. The angel uses an auger to pierce a hole for the peg that his companion is shaping with a chisel. The latter has placed his peg on a second piece of wood with a notch or rebate to prevent the peg slipping away and to overcome the elasticity of his butt-end wood of his temporary workbench. Against the workbench, to the right, is a plane, and on the bench, a jointer plane, splitting axe, bench clamp and brace drill. At the rear, carpenters strike in pegs with mallets. d. On the workbench we see a bench clamp and marking gauge. St Joseph is smoothing a board with a jointer plane. In one corner timber is piled, against which is placed a handsaw, with its end protruding above St Joseph’s head. Two frame-saws hang on the wall. On a rack hang chisels, gouges and compasses. Below are a square and a template. The planes are stored on the top shelf. a b c d