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

BRUGES, GROENINGE MUSEUM 443 14. Hieronymus Bosch (follower), Triptych of Job . Closed: coats of arms standing out against a dark marbled background. Open: wings: The Temptation of St Anthony ; The Penitence of St Jerome , first quarter 16th century Inv. no. 0000.GRO0209.I Provenance: placed on deposit by the Church of St Jacobus, Hoeke, in 1931. It is not known how the painting arrived there. It is mentioned for the first time in Hoeke in 1858. The coats of arms on the marbled background on the outsides of the wings were identified by Christiane Van den Bergen-Pantens as being those of the Vervoort (or Van de Voorde) and Maes families from Antwerp (left), and of the Haro (from Spain) and Pijnappels families from ‘s-Hertogenbosch where the Bosch tradition was very much alive. Bibliography: De Vos 1982, 90-92; Janssens de Bisthoven 1983, 55-67, pl. XXXIX-LV . Panels: the central panel has three boards, each wing has two. The central panel was slotted into the groove of the frame, with a tongue rebated at the back. The reverse features a mark made with a narrow, flat gouge. We can suggest a Brabant provenance for this work in which we recognize the Bruges influence, but also that of Rogier van der Weyden. Frames: all joints are slotted joints, except for those at the bottom of the central frame that are mortise and through tenon, with the tenon on the stile. The cuts are square on the outside, mitred or mixed on the inside of the triptych. The bottom of the frame of the central panel has peg holes for attaching the triptych onto a base. In the stiles of the wings: peg holes on one side, and remains of pegs on the other side for closing the wings. The curved top frame of the centre panel includes an original insert. The back of the frame of the centre panel has slightly bevelled edges except at the top. The black and gold polychromy of the frame has been redone on the inside; on the outside the dark polychromy is worn and overpainted.