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

CHAPTER II 66 21. Bessemans 1985, 247-250. 22. Nieuwdorp et al. 1984-1985, 87-88. 23. Davies 1954, 129-132. Frames were also applied to independent paintings without wings. A panel called De Beer (Bruges, GM , no. 27 ) has an applied frame pegged to the panel, with the assembly reinforced by nails driven in from the back. In another case: Brabant Anonymous, Triptych of the Crucifixion , 1615 ( PC , no. 3 ), 21 the frames of the central panel and wings are nailed, with the nails again driven in from the back. The boards of the panel itself are joined with tongue-and-groove. In these two latter works, the low quality joinery and use of nails go hand in hand with the low quality of the paintwork. 3. Semi-integral frames An old variant of the applied frame is frames partially cut into the panel and partially applied to the support, also known as “semi-integral frames”. This system has the advantage of allowing the frame mouldings to be produced using a plane or other sharp tool pushed in the direction of the grain, while avoiding the more difficult task of having to produce the mouldings against the grain. This system was already in use in the frames of the two pre-Eyckians panels of the Nativity and Resurrection (Antwerp, Mayer van den Bergh Museum, inv. no. I.374). Here the two uprights are cut into the wood and the crosspieces are glued. The other two elements of this quadriptych, an Annunciation and a Crucifixion (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, inv. nos. 37.1683a-c) no longer have their original frames. 22 The pegs fixing the crosspieces to the support are clearly visible in the Portrait of a Man ( Self Portrait ?) by Jan van Eyck, 1433 (London, The National Gallery, inv. no. NG222). Here the stiles, in the direction of the grain of the wood, are cut into the wood of the panel. 23 This system is also adopted for the Virgin at the Fountain by the same artist (Antwerp, RMFA , no. 3 ). 4. Grooved frames (fig. 29: 3) Until c. 1520, panels are generally slotted into grooved frames. Once the woodwork is complete, the ground and the paint layers are added. When removed from the original frame, the panel presents the characteristic barbe (accumulation of material at the junction of the panel and the frame) and unpainted edge. The thinning (planing down or bevelling) of the edges of the panel enabled it to be inserted into a groove of moderate width. The cheeks of the groove remained sufficiently strong, as did the panel, the maximum thickness (and hence the solidity) of which was preserved over most of its surface area. This thinning of the edges of the panels was done in various ways (fig. 31: 1-5). Occasionally we find an unthinned panel inserted in a frame.