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

CHAPTER IV 88 The same applies to the Triptych of the Reliquary of the Virgin’s Veil (Tongeren, BOL, no. 1 ) (fig. 47). These frames are strewn with flower motifs in the first case, and with flower and star patterns in the second. In Tongeren, the pattern is executed in gold leaf on the face, and in silver leaf on the back. 15th century polychromies are characterized by the variety and vibrancy of the colours. In some frames, red, blue, green, white – gold or yellow – alternate on the flat outer surfaces and the cavettos or beading of the mouldings. The imitation of marble, stone or porphyry is common. If gold leaf is already in use in the 15th century – it is found for example on Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of a Man ( Self Portrait? ), 1433 (London, The National Gallery, inv. no. NG222) – its use intensifies towards the end of the century, along with a move towards more subdued colours. In the frames of the works by Hans Memling preserved at the St John’s Hospital in Bruges, we find grey and brown marbling, in addition to the more common black and gold. For the Floreins Triptych , 1479 (Bruges, SJH , no. 2 ) (fig. 44) and the Reins Triptych , 1480 (Bruges, SJH, no. 4 ), the grey marbling is situated on the frame of the open triptych, between the little black outer edge and the gilded edge surrounding the painting itself. The closed wings give the illusion of grey stone. Fig. 43. Flower pattern in trompe-l’œil . The Walcourt Annunciation and Visitation , late 14th century (Namur, PMAA , no. 1 ). Fig. 44. Grey and brown marbling between the little black outer edge and the gilded edge surrounding the painting. Hans Memling, Jan Floreins Triptych , 1479 (Bruges, SJH , no. 2 ).