In other cases, such as the dated restoration from 1634, futile
attempts were made to reinforce the splits by gluing strips of wood and
hemp fibers over them. On some panel backs, however, one can find hemp
fibers in very good condition that date from the time the panel was made.
In two cases that were probably nineteenth-century interventions, severely
worm-eaten and hollowed-out panels werefilled with many different
pieces ofwood and abundant animal glue. These had caused extreme con-
tractions and cleavage effects on the front, as on the painting by Parri di
Spinello, Madonna della misericordia,from the Museo Medievale Moderno
in Arezzo (Figs. 7, 8).C H P P R I 191Figure 7
Parri di Spinello, Madonna della misericordia,
- Reverse. Tempera on panel, 199 3174
cm. Museo Statale di Arte Medievale e
Moderna, Arezzo. Exposed by the removal of
a fake fir back ing, inserts offir with animal
glue can be seen; they were inserted into lost
areas of the severely worm-eaten original
poplar panel.
Figure 8
Parri di Spinello, Madonna della misericordia.
This close-up ofthe ground and paint layer
shows extreme distortions caused by the
contraction of the glue on the back and
bythe imperfect fit of the fir insets shown
inFigure 7.