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

CHAPTER II 46 1. Butt joint (fig. 13: 1-5) Butt-joining is found in the vast majority of Southern Netherlandish paintings from the late 14th to the early 17th centuries. Sometimes we find small notches (fig. 13: 3) struck into the narrow sides of the board to improve the adhesion of the glue. We find an example in a piece of joinery of regional nature (Kuringen, HA , no. 1 ). The butt joint is usually reinforced with dowel pins (fig. 13: 1), that is more or less cylindrical pieces of wood inserted parallel to the surface of the support in slots drilled for this purpose in the side of each board. The joint can also be reinforced by keys, a sort of separate tenon, inserted into recesses carved into the surfaces of the boards to be assembled (fig. 13: 4). This system is common in large paintings. In the frequently cited example of the Death of the Virgin by Hugo van der Goes (Bruges, Groeninge Museum, inv. no. 0000.GRO0204.I) the four pegs used to fit the keys into the panel have caused circular cracking in the paint layer (fig. 14). Fig. 13. Ways of joining boards to form a panel. 1. Butt joint and dowel. 2. Butt joint. 3. Butt joint and notching on the narrow sides of the panels to improve the adhesion of the glue. 4. Keyed joint, with key held in place by four pegs. 5. Joint with dovetail key. 6-7. Lap-joint (with bevelled or straight lap). 8-9. V-shaped tongue-and-groove joint (conical joint). 10. Square tongue-and-groove joint.