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

LEUVEN, CHURCH OF St PETER 619 3. Josse van der Baren, Triptych of St Ivo . Closed: The King of Aragon ; St Raimundus of Penafort . Open, centre: St Ivo of Treguier ; wings: St Judocus of Ponthieu ; Martyrdom of St Lucy of Syracuse , 1607 (signed and dated on the tiling shown on the central panel: Lovanii pingebat Iodocus / Vander Baren 5. id. /April. anno 1607) Inv. no. S/84/V Panels: central panel made of six vertical boards, 2.5 cm thick. The wing panels are made of three boards each, slotted into the groove of the frame. The central panel has undergone several restorations, with reinforcing battens and wood buttons added. Frames: central frame rebated, wing frames grooved. The frames have slotted joints, mitred on the inside, mixed on the outsides of the wings, and cut square on the reverse of the central frame. It was not possible to observe the underside of the triptych (it is placed on a base) or the top side, given the height of the work. Notches in the top rail were perhaps intended to support a crown. The central panel is held in the frame by means of wooden swivel cams. These cams are of various shapes, some are probably original. The hinges are modern, the lock is of the period. The black and gold polychromy has been redone and, at least on the wings, covers on the inside the original polychromy which included a decorative floral pattern on the flat band. This pattern, executed in strong impasto, appears under the overpainting. The corresponding flat band of the central panel lacks these impastos.