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

catalogue 548 15. Antwerp Anonymous (entourage of Joos van Cleve), Lactation of St Bernard , early 16th century Inv. no. 370 Provenance: early repositories. First mentioned in the 1809 catalogue (64, no. 7). Bibliography: Pauwels 1984, 60. Panel: two horizontal boards, slotted into the groove of the frame. The support has moved in the frame, with the tongue disengaging from the groove in the upper part. Frame: top: slotted joints, mitred at top, mixed cut at the bottom, cut square on the reverse. These slotted joints have a particular profile, mimicking an additional half- lap joint. This is the only slotted joint of this kind that we have observed. It is a complication of a simple joint, and its effectiveness is not obvious. At the bottom, thick mastic fillings on the side make it difficult to identify the type of joint (slotted or mortise and tenon). The joint is angled to the inclined sill. The joints at the bottom seem also not to have been regular ones; and indeed the mastic fillings at these points suggest that they have not been effective. The upper rail has two hanging/holding holes. The black and gold polychromy has been redone.