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

catalogue 438 12. Anonymous, two wings with Scenes from the Legend of St George , early 16th century Inv. no. 0000.GRO0214.I Provenance: originally belonging to the Guild of Crossbowmen of St George and St Denis, and intended either for the chapel or for the guild’s hall. In 1493, the guild opened a new chapel, an event that has sometimes been associated with the production of this painting. In the 19th century the two wings were at the premises of the Guild of the Old Crossbow in the Sint-Jorisstraat. The work was still part of a triptych when, in 1863, it was deposited with the Academy. Donated to the City in 1869. Bibliography: De Vos 1982, 34-36; Janssens de Bisthoven 1983, 19-30, pl. I-XIII . Panels: each panel consists of four butt-joined boards. The panel is slotted into the groove of the frame. Frames: joints: probably mortise and tenon, but major restoration has blocked any view of the joints on the sides of the frames. The cut is square on the outside, mixed on the inside; with two pegs at each corner. The right stile on the outside of the right wing has a large unpainted part, on which a closing lath was originally pegged. This lath ought normally to have been on the other side, it must be assumed that after disassembling the frames, the frames were inverted (restorer S. Deheuvel reglued the joints of the two panels in 1876). This hypothesis is supported by the wrong positioning of the hinges (now hidden by restoration), mentioned by Janssens de Bisthoven (1983, 20). On the outside of the wings, the polychromy is original: stencilled decoration (alternating small and large flowers) on a black background. The polychromy on the inside (gilding on the moulding, and red-brown colour on the flat band and on the side of the frame) is original, but heavily restored.