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

catalogue 592 32. Antoon Claeissens (attributed to), Triptych of the Life of St John the Baptist , late 16th century (the donatrix Luisa Grianda is represented identically on each of the open wings) Inv. no. 4130 Provenance: bequest of Adela Crooke y de Guzman de Osma, Countess of Valencia de Don Juan, Paris, 1919. Bibliography: Pauwels 1984, 55. Panels: the central panel consists of two vertically-placed boards. It is roughly 1 cm thick and has been painted outside the frame. The reverse, probably originally painted black without ground, including the frame of the central panel, has been planed and the joins strengthened with non-original dovetail keys. Frames: slotted joints with a single peg. The frame of the central panel is slightly thicker than those of the wings. Large notches, produced with care and originally gilded, leave room for the hinges, with space to allow the pins to be inserted and removed. Outside, the wings are uniformly painted black on a layer of whitish ground. Inside, the polychromy of the frame is original: with, on the flat band, a stylized floral pattern stencilled in red lake on a gilded background. In the unstencilled zones, the underlying gilding is bare and constitutes the decorative motif. This decoration is the same as on the frame of the St Anthony of Padua Triptych by Ambrosius Benson, from the early 16th century, in the same Museum (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 14 ).