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

LEUVEN, CHURCH OF St PETER 617 2. Dirk Bouts, Triptych with the Martyrdom of St Erasmus . Closed: text in gold paint on black background. Open: wings: St Jerome ; St Bernard , before 1464 Inv. no. S/57/B Provenance: intended for one of the axial chapels of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, called the Chapel of St Erasmus. Was placed over time at various locations in the Church. Bibliography: Smeyers 1975, 211-216; Hollanders-Favart et al. 1975a, 397-399; Périer- d’Ieteren 2005, 258-266. Panels: originally the triptych was painted on wood. It was transposed onto paper and canvas, and pasted onto a new wooden support in 1843 according to the inscription on the outside of the wings. The same treatment was meted out to the central panel of the Holy Sacrament Altarpiece by Dirk Bouts, conserved in the same Church. The fine texture of the canvas shows through the paint layer. A layer of white lead, used as an adhesive in the transposition of the image, makes the radiographic image poorly differentiated and difficult to read. The shape of the triptych, some old joins visible in the paint layer (shown on the diagram of the front), some cracking typical of painting on wood, the presence of a barbe on the left side of the central panel and the left wing, are all references to the original support. The back of the central panel, now cradled, is hidden under a chipboard panel. In 1998 a pane of glass was placed between the frames and the paint surface as protection against ultraviolet rays and burglary. The triptych is placed in a metal frame. The outside of the shutters carry the following inscriptions: on the left wing: memlingii, picturam novae tabulae ab b.mortemard inductam mdcccxxxx ; on the right wing: coloribus accurate interpolavit Carolus De Pauwer mdcccxxxxiii . The first inscription mentions the work of transposition (1840) and the second relates to the restoration of the paint layer (1843). Frames: non-original. The central frame carries the inscription: opus theodorici bouts, anno mcccc4xviii.