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

CHAPTER II 62 process governing this construction needs to be understood in the context of large altarpieces, where the weight of the components and the risk of their collapse were a clearly perceivable concern in the development of the construction and shape. A similar construction anchored in the frame still exists today behind the central panel of the Last Judgement by Rogier van der Weyden, 1445-1450 (Beaune, Hôtel-Dieu) (see Chapter VI Large works ). In other large triptychs in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, trapezoidal “paws” are both embedded into the panel and joined to the frame: Hans Memling, the St John Altarpiece (Bruges, SJH , no. 1 ); Albrecht Bouts, the Assumption of the Virgin Triptych (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 21 ) (fig. 28a); Jan Provoost, Van Riebeke-Parmentier Triptych (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 11 ). In the second half of the 16th, paws were no longer assembled to rebated frames. They continue to exist only for strengthening large panels. Trapezoidal paws arranged tête-bêche are embedded in the panel of the Last Judgement by Jacob van den Coornhuuse (Bruges, GM , no. 23 ) and in the panel of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van het Boompje by Pieter Claeissens the Younger (Bruges, OLPM , no. 11 ) (fig. 28b). Fig. 28. a. Trapezoidal paw imbedded in the panel and attached to the frame. Albrecht Bouts, Triptych of the Assumption of the Virgin , first half 16th century (Brussels, RMFAB , no. 21 ). b. Trapezoidal paw imbedded in the panel, not attached to the frame. Pieter Claeissens the Younger, Onze-Lieve- Vrouw van het Boompje , 1608 (Bruges, OLPM , no. 11 ). a b