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

catalogue 628 4. Anonymous, fragment of a wing with The Third Appearance of Christ . Outside: fragment with St Aubert , early 16th century Inv. no. S/20/R Provenance: V. Demunter bequest in 1938. Bibliography: Hollanders-Favart et al . 1975a, 439-441; Crab 1977, 276. Panel: consisting of two vertical boards, butt-joined with dowels. Parchment strips (1 cm wide) are visible at various places; glued along the join (at the top, on the grisaille side, double layer of parchment, suggesting that this was affixed in various strips from top to bottom). The parchment provides precarious support to the paint surface in the areas where the boards are disjointed. The panel no longer has its original dimensions. On the grisaille side, where St Aubert is cut at waist height, saw marks are visible right along the top edge. To insert it into the frame, the panel has been notched back 1.1 cm from the upper edge, with the depth of the cut varying with the curvature of the panel; in the right corner, a fragment of original paint remains beyond the cut. The total height of St Aubert is estimated at ± 119 cm, based on the proportions of the persons visible on the front. In other words, the panel was originally twice its present height. This painting is probably a fragment of an altarpiece wing, with originally on the front two superimposed scenes painted on the same panel and separated by a painted or applied cross-piece, while the reverse was occupied by a single figure over the entire height. Frame: modern.