S
in the plastic arts possess a pedigree unique in
western Europe. In Spain the technology of movable works of art,
architecture, and urban planning was influenced by the legacy of
Islamic culture as well as by practices and traditions originating in Italy
and the Gothic North. Islamic prohibitions on recognizable images meant
that Muslim artisans understandably had little impact on painted images;
even so, the methods of joinery and traditional understanding of wood
manifest in Islamic architecture and decorative arts surely informed the
techniques evident in painted panels and altarpieces. The climate and
materials indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula also affected panel making.
This article will discuss the technology ofwooden panels and their prepa-
ration for painting in Spain from 1400 to 1700 C.E. Contracts and other
documents from this period are cited.^1Perhaps more than elsewhere, retables in Spain (with their integral panels
or sculptures) were produced as corporate enterprises. Contracts were
often complex documents with subcontracting specifications. Included
were the dimensions, type of wood, iconographical subjects, price, time
limits, and terms. It was common practice for a master painter to under-
take responsibility for all aspects of a large job that he might subsequently
subcontract to other specialists. In some cases, there is evidence that even
the painting of panels was divided between two different workshops
(Navarro Talegón 1984:330). Occasionally the job carried a warranty:
“Item, it is agreed that if by chance the retable or part of it loosens [from
the wall] or sustains any damage from being badly installed, if for some
reason that is the fault of the painters, that they are responsible for dam-
ages during six years from its installation if the painters [guild officials]
declare that it is needed” (Serrano y Sanz 1914:447).
Clearly, using top-quality materials and techniques was important
in a legal climate where such statutes were known, even if they were not
actually commonplace. Nevertheless, damage did occur, and when the
original artists were no longer available, other painters would turn their
hands to restoration, as did the Catalan painter Francesc Feliu, who in
1412 “patched cracks, touched up faded colours, and repaired Jesus’s
mantle” in the retable of the chapel of All Saints in Santa Maria of Manresa
(Sobré 1989:46, n. 59).Contracts
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Zahira Véliz
Wooden Panels and Their Preparation for
Painting from the Middle Ages to the
Seventeenth Century in Spain