panels: “All the retable must be made of walnut and no other wood, and
the walnut must be good, dry, and having been cut for as long a time as pos-
sible, clear of knots, even if it must be brought from outside Valladolid....
And the histories and saints must be made of single pieces... should joins
be unavoidable, they must be as few as possible for the greater perpetuity
of the work” (García Chico 1946:86).
The planks, whether destined to be joined or used as single-
member panels, were cut, sawn, and planed with considerable thickness,
3–4 cm being quite common. On the reverse of many panels, the marks
left by the planes and gouges are still apparent. The most common joins
were butt joins, apparently sometimes without a glue adhesive between
the panel members (juntas vivas). Butt joins are frequent in panels from
thefourteenth to the seventeenth century (Prieto Prieto 1988:201).
Concern about the long-term stability of panels joined in this way must
have prompted the practice of reinforcing the join. The simplest method
was caulking or plastering over the joins with the filling compound used
tomake good any uneven places on the wood surface, pressing it through
gaps in the joins and forming a ridge at the reverse of the panels, effecting
a kind of solder (Fig. 1). This procedure was considered so important that
standards about panel preparation were included in the ordenanzas(ordi-
nances governing civic guilds and commerce) of Cordova (1493) (Ramírez
de Arellano 1915:25–36) and mentioned as well in the ordenanzas of
Granada (early sixteenth century) and Seville (1632).^3 The earliest text
from Cordova is the most specific: “It is further ordered and required
thatthe retables of painted panels should be worked in such a way that
all the joins of the panels, and any other cracks whatsoever are caulked^4
and afterward well primed with parchment glue. This glue must be made
by amaster who has great knowledge in its temper and cooking because
it must be very well tempered and heated in the right way” (Ramírez de
Arellano 1915:38).138 Véliz
Hemp or canvas fibersGesso-based caulking
Wood planksLinen cloth glued over joint faceThick gessoDetailFigure 1
Apine panel prepared for painting in Castile.