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

Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium 541 12. Brussels Anonymous, Triptych of the Virgin and Child . Open: wings: St Catherine ; St Barbara , c. 1525 Inv. no. 367 Provenance: earlier repositaries. First mentioned in the 1803 catalogue (no. 157). Bibliography: Pauwels 1984, 393. Panels: the central panel consists of three butt-joined boards held together with dowels. One dowel notch has been partially uncovered at the top of the left join, at the back, following the levelling of the support. The surface of the wings, on the inside, exhibits traces of saw marks and bevelling. Frames : slotted joints, mitred at the top; mixed cut at the bottom, and cut square at the back. In the lower left corner of the frame of the Virgin and Child , a separate piece of wood was added at the outset and pegged separately to the stile (the pegs holding it in place are visible in the left stile). This piece − which is grooved and appears to be recovered from another work − acts as an angle key (floating tenon). Inspection of the underside of the lower rail shows that the tenon on the right stile is similarly grooved. The pegs strengthening the joints are very wide (1.2 cm). Holes in the side of the bottom rail show that the triptych was fixed to a base. A nail in the side of the left wing could be the remains of the original system for holding the wings together when shut. The particular features of the joinery suggest the re-use of wood from an earlier construction or the redimensioning of the materials for the present triptych. The poor levelling of the panels of the wings and the inaccurate mitring of the joints all point to inferior quality joinery. The frames have been stripped. The panels of the closed wings are painted in brown, directly onto the wood without any ground; traces of ground remain only along the edges.