The carpentry of the panels and retables was executed in several
ways, and local custom varied slightly. In Aragon the carpentry was often
carried out in the artist’s studio. Elsewhere it was finished prior to the
painter’s contract (Sobré 1989:35). Separate contracts for painting and
carpentry were also frequent, as was the widespread practice of sub-
contracting the carpentry. In most situations, one can assume that the
painters had considerable say about the standards to which their panels
would be prepared. The importance given to the quality of work at this
stage is underscored by a clause in a contract dated 1561: “Item that
[they] are obliged to show all the pieces of the altarpiece once they are
worked and clean and prior to applying any colour to any piece, and this
is done so that persons named by [the client] can see the work” (García
Chico 1946:95).Wooden panels in Spain, as in other western European countries, were
made principally from locally available woods, although, of course—
considering the active political and commercial contacts with the Low
Countries—panels were fairly frequently imported. Within Spain regional
characteristics become evident, with pine predominating in Castile and
Aragon, poplar in Catalonia. Walnut is found occasionally in Castilian pan-
els, as is (much more rarely) Spanish oak. The use of thuja (red or white
cedar, also the source of sandarac) in Europe seems unique to the south-
ern quarter of the Iberian Peninsula. There is one documented example
ofFlemish oak having been imported for a specific commission, Lluis
Dalmau’s Virgin of the Councillors (Sobré 1989:51, 288–91). Many panel
paintings ofthe school of Viseu in Portugal are painted on chestnut
(Marette 1961:52–53, 67–69). Contracts reflect practical concern for the
quality and suitability ofthe wood—its hardness, ease of working, and
freedom from knots, veins, stains, and other defects. The importance of
the commission and the client’s wealth also influenced the type and qual-
ity ofwood employed.
The age and dryness required of the wood for retables and panels
is frequently specified in the contracts: the retable “must be dry pine from
Soria, good and dry, and the figures and columns of wood from Ontalvilla
and the said wood must be dry pine from Soria as is said, dry for at least
six years” (García Chico 1946:156). In Castile “pine from Soria” is often
mentioned, and sometimes exact localities are named, such as Ontalvilla,
Cuéllar, San Leonardo, or Quintanar de la Sierra. Occasionally wood from
distinct sources is designated for different purposes: “[The architecture]
should be ofpine wood from Soria, dry and good... and the histories
[panels?] and sculptures can be of local pine” (García Chico 1946:73).
Occasionally even the time of cutting is stipulated, as occurs in a contract
of Gregorio Hernández for the construction of the high altar retable of
Las Huelgas Reales in Valladolid: “It is a condition that all the wood for
the said sculpture must be from Ontalvilla, dry and clean, free of knots,
white, not dark wood, and cut in a good moon” (García Chico 1946:160).^2Once the appropriate wood was selected, the assembly of the panels pro-
ceeded in a variety of ways. Although most panels of any size were usually
joined, the following passage indicates the desirability of single-memberPanel Construction
Woods Used for
Painting Support
W P M A S C S 137