A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

209 Vincent Cattersel 10 208 a Holy Kinship (37.5 ≈ 33.3 ≈ 13.2  cm) in the Bode-Museum in Berlin, made of walnut ( Juglans sp.) and a Virgin (21.7 ≈ 11 ≈ 7  cm) and St John the Evangelist (21.8 ≈ 10 ≈ 7  cm) in the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt, made of pear ( Pyrus sp.). 10 The presence of knots provides information about the quality of the wood, while their location on the sculpture shows how the sculptor dealt with these defects. Knots were found in about 70% of those statues that are now without paint. This high percentage might indicate that there were no knot-free logs to be had when the sculptor came to buy one. The trees used may have had branches along the whole length of the trunk. Such trunks usually come from isolated specimens, growing on forest borders or sites such as woodland, where the low density of trees allows light to penetrate the sub-canopy la yer. 11 D en- drochronological analysis of a large number of Elsloo sculptures showed that regional wood rather than Baltic oak was used, notwithstanding the fact that in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century large quantities of Baltic oak wood were imported into the Low Countries, most commonly pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur L.) and durmast oak ( Quercus petraea Lieble in). 12 T his wood has some advantages, compared to local, fast-growing wood. The Baltic environment encourages slower and more regular growth, resulting in narrow tree rings and a correspondingly higher density of latewo od. 13 Su ch wood is less sensitive to changes in relative humidity and is therefore more stable and of a higher quality than fast-growing wood. Local wood, on the other hand, with its irregular growth and more frequent presence of knots, is more prone to self-induced tension caused by an uneven dimensional change during the drying process. This results in surface checking, end checking and radial cracks (figs. 10.2-1 0.3). 14 Su ch tensile failures are often seen on Elsloo sculptures and could indicate that carving was started during the drying proc ess. 15 If so, the sculptor had to deal with these imperfections while carving. For this, three methods have been observed, all of which are commonly found in the Elsloo oeuvre and in other contemporary works. The first method was curative and dealt with cracks that appeared during carving. This was most often solved by the insertion of a thin wooden wedge, which was roughly tailored to the crack’s width then hammered into the crack perpendicular to the grain of the wood. This can be seen on the Apostle from Bree (fig. 10.4a), the St Lawrence from Bocholt, the St Roch and Christ the Saviour from Neeroeteren, and the Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon in St James’s Church in Liège (fig. 10.4b), among oth ers. 16 Fig. 10.4 Cracks filled with wooden wedges a Apostle, Bree, St Michael’s Church, back b Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon, Liège, St James’s Church, mantle under the left arm 10.4 a 10.4 b