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

ASSEMBLY OF PANEL AND FRAME 65 20. Observation made during a study mission at the initiative of J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer on the Master of Flémalle-Van der Weyden problem, August 1979. Anonymous, Triptych of the Reliquary of the Virgin’s Veil , late 14th century (Tongeren, BOL , no. 1 ) and Master of the Lineage of St Anne, Triptych of the Lineage of St Anne with St Catherine and St Barbara (Ghent, MFA , no. 4 ). The moulding of such a frame is often simple, given the impossibility of using a moulding plane. The tool adopted for the mouldings has often left traces on the flat surface, itself smoothed flat only with difficulty. These technical drawbacks and wasteful use of wood probably helped to limit the use of such frames to small works. 2. Applied frames (fig. 29: 2) The applied frame is most often pegged onto the front surface of a panel, rarely nailed from the back. The reverse of the panel remains flat. This way of working, especially suitable for a piece of joinery that is supported, rather than supporting, was well suited to wings. The wings of the Edelheere Triptych (Leuven, SP , no. 1 ) had applied frames (fig. 30), now lost, as did the panels with the Virgin and Child and the Veronica of the Master of Flémalle (Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, inv. nos. 939 and 939A). 20 Fig. 30. Unpainted borders of the Edelheere Triptych , 1443 (Leuven, SP, no. 1 ). a. Central part. The unpainted border (± 1 cm) is typical of a panel that has been slotted into the groove of a frame before painting. b. Right wing, inside of the triptych. The unpainted border is wide (total width: 7 cm). This is the border hidden under an applied frame, which was pegged to the frame before painting. The original frame has disappeared and the unpainted border has been cut back for reframing in a rebated frame. c. Closed right wing. On the reverse of an applied frame, the panel is flat, unframed, and painted right to the edges. Here the cutting back of the edge has been done with a view to framing, even if there was no original frame. The set-back results from the concern not to cut away part of the text. a b c