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

catalogue 446 15. Ambrosius Benson, Triptych of the Virgin and Child . Open: wings: prayer inscribed on a black background, 1533 (dated under the prayer) Inv. no. 0000.GRO0222.I Provenance: acquired by the Friends of the Museums in 1905 from the Convent of the Capucin Poor Clares and donated to the City. Bibliography: De Vos 1982, 76-77. Panels: central panel and each wing: a single board each time. The panels are slotted into the grooves of the frames. The outside is entirely overpainted in black. Frames: slotted joints, pegged, cut square on the outside of the triptych, mitred on the inside. The frames of the wings are thinner (2.7 cm) than that of the central panel (4 cm). Suspension/holding holes, with tearing away of the wood. Traces of an iron hanging hook. Original hinges. A swivel hook screwed half-way up the stiles of the frames (screw not original, replacing a forged nail) serves to close the triptych.