Know that there ought not to be less time spent in learning than this: to
begin as a shopboy studying for one year, to get practice in drawing on the
little panel; next, to serve in a shop under some master to learn how to work
at all the branches which pertain to our profession; and to stay and begin the
working up of colors; and to learn to boil the sizes, and grind the gessoes;
and to get experience in gessoing anconas, and modeling and scraping them;
gilding and stamping; for the space of a good six years. Then to get experi-
ence in painting, embellishing with mordents, making cloths of gold, getting
practice in working on the wall, for six more years; drawing all the time,
never leaving off, either on holidays or on workdays. And in this way your
talent, through much practice, will develop into real ability. (Cennini
1994:chap. 104, p. 64)Athorough knowledge of various wood species and their proper-
ties and uses appears throughout Cennino’s writing (see Table 1). That
Cennino clearly takes information on wood species for granted suggests
that it was common knowledge at this time. However, no mention is made
of processing logs into boards, nor of selecting, edging, shaping, drying,
or gluing of boards together to form the whole support. This absence may
indicate that such expertise was not considered to belong to the artist’s
field, although the artist would often have specified the size, shape, and
other features ofthe finished panel.Historical evolution ofcentral Italian panel supports
The techniques used in the construction of central Italian wooden sup-
ports vary widely according to the period, region, type of artwork, and
artist. It should be noted that the morphology and the structural complex-
ity ofa support are not directly related to the size of the painting nor to
that of the individual boards but, rather, to the period to which it belongs.
However, due to the nature of wood, which includes such properties as
anisotropy and hygroscopicity, almost all supports shared some common
features. The common sensibility that characterized the artisans of central
Italy arose from an effort to provide simple solutions to the challenges
posed by their craft.
The historical evolution of central Italian panel supports is interest-
ing to follow. The supports of Tuscan paintings (protopittura toscana) that
were produced until approximately 1250–80 possibly derive from Gothic
retables and are made primarily of coniferous wood. During the late thir-
teenth, fourteenth, and early fifteenth centuries, poplar was the main
species used. The complex nature of many paintings (e.g., altarpieces,
crucifixes, polyptychs) often required that the support be a complex struc-
ture, an artwork in itself strengthened by ad hoc components, such as cross-
beams, braces, and the framework on the reverse. Richly molded or carved
engaged frames, predelle, cusps, and various ornaments constituted integral
parts of the support. The conception of the supports, as well as the details
oftheir manufacture, make clear the skills and knowledge of the artists and
manufacturers with regard to the properties and behavior of wood. Even
smaller paintings were often made on rather complex supports.
In the second half of the fifteenth century, works of art (including
polyptychs and frescoes) made by fourteenth-century masters sometimesPanel Construction
Techniques
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