be covered with linen wherever it shall be needed” (Madurell Marimón
1944:155, 166, 205). In 1570 a contract between a patron and the painter
Juan Tomás Celma states that “firstl y, the said Juan Tomás and his wife
promise that they will cover and reinforce with hemp and linen all of the
gaps and fissur es to be found when the wood of the said retable is worked,
and where necessary over the joins, and then they will prepare [the pieces]
with all care and tidiness and delicacy” (García Chico 1946:166). Two fur-
ther brief references clarify, first, that the canvas was applied to the panel
after the first glue priming: “After one application of glue to all the wood,
the joins and splits must be covered with strips of linen and strong glue
[cola fuerte,carpenter’s glue],” and, second, that canvas strips should be
applied to the joins with cola fuerte in the altarpiece of Santa Cruz in
Medina de Rioseco, because “it is necessary so, because only caulked, [the
joins] are not secure” (García Chico 1946:372, 154).
It is impossible at present, on either empirical or documentary
evidence, to determine a preference for grass fibers or woven cloth for
covering joins or knots or other faults in the panel. However, it can be
affirmed that in contracts, linen is mentioned more frequently for use on
the face and hemp fibers for use on the reverse. Personal preference on the
part of the artist, as well as local custom, seem to have been the determin-
ing factors.^7
Fr ancisco Pacheco, whose seventeenth-century treatise El arte de
la pintura(Pacheco 1965) is one of the most useful sources for Spanish
painting techniques, writes on these measures with some critical perspec-
tive.In the seventeenth century the use of panels in Spain, as elsewhere,
was diminishing. His comments are far more informative than the tersely
worded contracts:Nowadays gilders avoid covering the openings and joins between pieces of
wood used for architecture and sculpture because it seems to them that noth-
ing can be done to prevent the wood from opening. At first glance, the use of
linen pieces seems to be unnecessary, but I will state my feeling about this,
telling the truth as I see it. It is certain that painters before our time had
great interest in preparations and gilding, as is seen in many of their works.
Also, they put great care into the applications of these pieces of linen, hop-
ing to prevent the inevitable opening of joins. I concede that it would be bet-
ter to repair large openings and joins by fastening them with thin [butterfly]
wedges ofwood and strong glue; but this does not excuse entirely the use of
linen as it is still useful in some places, although the pieces must be new and
strong enough to stay in place, and they must be firmly fixed down at the
ends. They may also be placed over the wedges, adding strength to strength,
and plastering them down by going over them with the large soft brush
[brocha] w hen applying the first layer of gesso [yeso grueso], and making it as
level to the wood as possible. Also, all the joins on the reverse of the panels
must be covered with hemp even if they have cross-bars... some also like to
add [hemp] to the front. Others, in Castile, apply hemp over the whole panel,
and, after putting on three or four layers of gesso [yeso grueso], they give
[the panel] a thick layer offine gesso [yeso mate] with a spatula. Earlier
painters covered the fibrous strings with linens and applied the preparation
on top, but this is [now] unnecessary, since nowadays cedar or chestnut wood
is used for panels, and it is enough to apply the fibers on the reverse.^8W P M A S C S 141