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

XIV Acknowledgements Marie-Emilie Ricker, Paul-Augustin Deproost, Jacqueline Couvert, Anne Dubois, Colombe Janssens de Bisthoven, Pascale d’Olne. At the Catholic University of Leuven ( KULeuven ), it was a pleasure to work with the late Maurits Smeyers, with Bert Cardon, Katlijne Van der Stichelen, Jan Van der Stock, Lieve Watteeuw and Annelies Vogels. Access to the works was facilitated by the staffs of the various institutions: in Antwerp, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and Mayer van den Bergh Museum; in Bruges, the St John’s Hospital, Groeninge Museum, and Our Lady of the Pottery Museum; in Brussels, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Public Welfare Centre ( CPAS/OMCW ); in Douai, the Musée de la Chartreuse; in Ghent, the Museum of Fine Arts, City Museum, and Ghent University; at Kuringen, Herkenrode Abbey; in Leuven, M-Museum, the Public Welfare Centre, and Church of St Peter; in Mechelen, the Public Welfare Centre; in St-Truiden, Cultural Heritage of Limburg and Museum for Religious Art; in Tongeren, the Basilica of Our Lady, and Municipal Collection; in Tournai, the Museum of Fine Arts. For several decades, frequent scientific meetings have stimulated the participants’ work. These have provided publications but also friendships and many good memories. I thank the following colleagues and friends: Maryan Wynn Ainsworth, Hubert Baya, Rachel Billinge, Annick Born, Till-Holger Borchert, Véronique Bücken, Edwin Buijsen, Lorne Campbell, James Corcoran, late Antoine De Schrijver, Jill Dunkerton, Jean de Wergifosse, Molly Faries, Susan Farnell, Susan Foister, Maria Clelia Galassi, Maria del Carmen Garrido, Melanie Gifford, Régine Guislain-Wittermann, John Oliver Hand, Paul Huvenne, FrancineHuys, Susan Frances Jones, StephanKemperdick, Steven Kersse, Lizet Klaassen, Peter Klein, Manfred Koller, Patrick Le Chanu, Caterina Limentani Virdis, Hilde Lobelle-Caluwé, Philippe Lorentz, Pilar Silva Maroto, Elisabeth Martin, Maximiliaan Martens, Catherine Metzger, Susie Nash, Hans Nieuwdorp, Mieke Parez, Jacques Paviot, Mari Pietrogiovanna, late Carol Purtle, Elisabeth Ravaud, Catherine Reynolds, Ashok Roy, Manfred Sellink, Marika Spring, Ron Spronk, Susan Urbach, J.R.J. Van Asperen de Boer, Véronique Van Caloen, Maria Fernanda Viana, late Véronique Vandekerchove, Hugo van der Velden, Robert Van Nevel, Valentin Vermeersch, late Thierry Verougstraete, Martha Wolff, Martin Wijld, Diane Wolfthal, and Margreet Wolters. It was Jef Grosemans, the restorer of wooden supports at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Brussels from 1958 to 1986, who passed on to me his passion for supports. Finally, I would thank those near and dear to me, and especially my large, multi- generational family, for their generous shouldering of family responsibilities and their constant encouragement over the many months that this new edition involved. Thank you to certain of them for their patience and to others for their impatience. Hélène Verougstraete