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

CANVASES AND THEIR AUXILIARY SUPPORTS 77 Fig. 36. Canvases mounted on original auxiliary supports: a. Anonymous, Jesus with Martha and Mary , mid-16th century (Bruges, SJH , no. 17 ). b. Anonymous, Dance of the Virtues , 1545 (Mechelen, PWC , no. 1 ). c. Pieter Bruegel, Adoration of the Magi (Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. no. 3929). d. Anonymous, Christ Appearing to the Holy Women , c. 1600 ( Leuven, MM , no. 15 ). e. Anonymous, Donatrix kneeling in front of the Crucifix , c. 1600 (Leuven, M-Museum, inv. no. S/183/O). a-c. In the first three examples, the canvas is more or less the same size as the panel, which is made of roughly joined boards. A frame is applied to the front. The three thicknesses are pegged from the front and/or nailed from the back. In this type of assembly, the unpainted edge hidden under the frame was often coloured black or brown, serving as a guide during the mounting process and keeping the canvas square. In c, the black border, worn and pierced repeatedly by many nails, has been turned back on the support which has first been sawn back in both directions. This makeshift repair presages an improvement of the system: the canvas is turned back on its auxiliary support and finds a better support. d. A rare example of an original stretcher. The stretcher is assembled in advance, with half-lap joints, and pegged. The three thicknesses (frame, canvas, stretcher), all three of the same dimension, are pegged together. This lightweight system may well have been in widespread use, for example for protecting large paintings from dust, for organ wings, etc. e. The canvas is simply nailed to the frame. The nails are hidden by strips of rough cloth of the time. The canvas is without auxiliary support. This makeshift system was frequently adopted in the 17th century. d e