Layer 05 · Section
The Reverse
Cradles, battens and what was done to the back.
Fixed members one way, sliding members the other. When the sliding members seize, the lattice stops guiding the board and starts clamping it.
Photo: Доска для живописи с дубовым паркетажем · Wikimedia Commons
The back of a panel carries the record of how it was made and everything that has been done to it since: bevels, tool marks, panel-makers' marks, battens, cradles, and in the most drastic cases nothing of the original support at all.
Entries in this section
04The cradle
A lattice fixed to the back to keep a panel flat, which often did the opposite.
Ruth Callender · 3 minBattens
The earlier, simpler answer to the same problem.
Ruth Callender · 2 minMarks on the back
Panel-makers' marks, collection stamps and inventory numbers as evidence.
Marijke de Haan · 2 minTransfer
Removing the original support entirely — the most drastic treatment there is.
Ruth Callender · 2 min