Chipboards have a more extensive history, as they have long been
produced for the furniture industry (Schiessl 1983:72–77). They were
highly recommended in the conservation literature of the 1920s and 1930s
(Bauer-Bolton 1933:111).
Aluminum sheets and aluminum honeycomb-wave supports were
introduced as auxiliary supports in the 1950s. Most of the restorers inter-
viewed for the Wolters Report considered aluminum sheets unsuitable as
newsupports for transfers (Wolters 1952:21).
Insufficient information is available about the use of these new
types ofboards for the transfer of paintings to new rigid supports. The
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne owns eleven surviving paintings
from an altar work of the Master of Saint Laurent, dating from 1425–30.
These paintings were split in the early nineteenth century. All subsequent
treatment (mostly reinforcements of the reverses) caused such heavy
damage that in 1964–70, part of these paintings was transferred from
wood to chipboard. The other part of this altar consists of very thin panels
mounted on chipboard as auxiliary supports (Zehnder 1990:500–509).
Another early example of the transfer of a painting from wood to chip-
board (19 mm thick) with a canvas interlayer was published by Fritz
Reimold in 1972. The transfer of the painting, The Annunciationby KonradH P P C A, G, S 221Figure 17
Gothic altarpiece, late fifteenth century.
Tempera on panel. Chapel of Kriebstein
Castle, Saxonia. In 1913 two wings were split
and transferred to canvas, resulting in four
paintings. This detail of Christ before conser-
vation treatment shows the very irregular
surface, caused by wooden particles left on
the paint layer. Climatic influence caused
further damage.
Figure 18
Reverse of one of the four paintings trans-
ferred to canvas from the Gothic altarpiece
from the chapel ofKriebstein Castle, Saxonia
(see Fig. 17). The newpaper backing enabled
the precise dating of the transfer.