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

CHAPTER IV 98 30. Hand et al. 2006, 140-149. 31. Stroo and Adriaensen 1985, 258-261. 32. Verougstraete-Marcq et al. 1981, 307-317. Writing with gold letters on a black background was also practiced in manuscripts, as in the precious prayer book of Mary of Burgundy produced by Nicolas Spiering (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 1857). On reverses of wings, other texts in gold letters more often refer to the identity of the donor or the circumstances of his donation. Even marbling could occasionally be overpainted with a coat of arms or with a donor. The portrait of Robrecht de Clercq by the Master of 1499 on the Diptych of the Virgin in the Church and Abbot Christiaan de Hondt , 1499 (Antwerp, RMFA , no. 7 ) is painted over the marbled layer, as can be verified on the X-radiograph. 30 When dating and attributing works, art historians need to be aware of the existence of possible additions. The creation of work may be an extended process, both time- wise and geographically. The half-finishing in a single colour, permitting further additions, also explains the variety in the quality of many triptychs, with the wings produced by another hand, sometimes of higher, at other times of lower quality than the central panel. The Triptych with Spear Thrust (formerly Alexian Brothers Convent, Grimbergen), the central part of which, dated 1633, is supposedly the work of the Mechelen painter De Marchyn, has wings with donors painted on a black background by a significantly more skilled hand than the one producing the central part. 31 A considerable period of time can also elapse between the painting of the two parts. The Holy Family by Pieter Coecke van Aelst (Leuven, M-Museum, inv. no. S/22/O) had wings, now lost, portraying donors painted nearly a century after the central panel. 32 Fig. 53. Triptych of the Holy Family . Central panel: Pieter Coecke (workshop), Rest on the Flight into Egypt . Wings: Florent Despêches, Donors (Narbonne, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire).