subsequent damage resulting from this treatment: “Until dividing, this type
of panel was healthy. Humidity and heat could not react with the wood
because it was covered on both sides with priming and paint layer. Now
the situation of both split paintings was changed. Each painting was open
at the back. Sawing diminished their stability. From now on, the backs
could react to heat and moisture. The effect was shrinking by the influence
ofheat on the sawn side and warped back. Thus, many cracks developed in
the paint layer, and in the worst case, cracks in the wood were the conse-
quence. In cases of high humidity, the wood swells from the back; there-
fore, the support warps forward, [resulting in the] loosening and loss of
the paint layer” (Kinkelin 1912:fol. 4).
Finally, the Wolters Report describes the negative effects and the
possible ways to correct and control the damages provoked by splitting.
The thickness of the paintings is often reduced to 2 mm. Due to the very
thin supports after separation, treatments were necessary to reinforce the
panels and to keep the supports flat. Usually the supports were cradled
with various systems, or they were glued onto auxiliary supports such as
wooden panels, and later to plywood or Masonite boards. Only very small
panel paintings remained untreated after splitting.
Thus, it seems evident that splitting of double-sided panel paint-
ings was done less frequently after the beginning of the twentieth century.208 Schiessl
Figure 8
Niklaus Manuel, Adoration of the Kings,
ca. 1518. Oil on panel, 899 3 149 cm.
Kunstmuseum Bern. Disastrous mishaps that
occurred during the splitting of panels were
not publicized; even so, these procedures
destroyed many panel paintings. Heavy dam-
age was caused by the 1947 splitting in Zurich
of Niklaus Manuel’s double-sided painting
Adoration of the Kingsand Sending of the
Apostles. T he damage to the front of the
Adoration of the Kingsis shown.
Figure 9
Niklaus Manuel, Adoration of the Kings. R esults
of the first r epair in 1955, after the partial
destruction of 1947 (see Fig. 8).