RKD STUDIES

Our knowledge of the production of panel supports, their suppliers and the associated trade practices derives from both archival sources and, crucially, from examining the materiality of the artworks themselves.¹ The timber used for panels were imported as semi-finished materials and required further processing by woodworkers and panel makers. Sadly, much of the information about this final processing stage that was once visible on the backs of panel paintings has been lost due to past conservation treatments, such as thinning for cradling, the application of a waxed cloth on the panel’s reverse to prevent warping, or even the complete transfer of paint layers onto canvas.² In many cases, tool marks, stamps, or inscriptions on the reverse of panels—whether forestry marks indicating the origin of the wood, or those later applied by the panel maker, the guild, or the artist’s workshop—were erased during these modifications, although traces of their making can sometimes still be partially discerned.³ Occasionally, restorers have taken care to preserve such marks [1]. When present, these marks provide valuable evidence for tracing the wood’s journey from forest to workshop and for understanding the networks that supplied painters with their supports.

1
Cut-outs for Guilliam Aertssen’s monogram and the Antwerp brand (castle and hands separate)