practice that became relatively common in all museums and continued
into the twentieth century. Hans Thoma, director of the Kunsthalle in
Karlsruhe between 1899 and 1919, noted: “Many of the old altar paintings
had painted back sides. These are at least of the same interest as the front
sides. That’s why I gave the order to split them. Thus some fine paintings
are added to the Gallery’s collection” (Fig. 5) (Busse 1942:280).
Few, if any, gallery reports record by whom, when, and how often
splitting occurred. Thus, the date of splitting remains unknown for a huge
number of paintings. Written notes by conservator J. A. Ramboux in the
Museum of Cologne record that about thirteen paintings were split after
their acquisitions in 1846–47 and 1854 (Mandt 1987–88:316).
Because joiners and, above all, cabinetmakers were expert in the
use of veneer frame saws, they—as well as some parqueteurs—were well-
trained “masters” in splitting paintings. To make splitting easier, a painting
was frequently cut into two parts vertically before splitting, with the place-
ment of the cut chosen to avoid important parts of the painting. The
preparatory vertical cutting happened to the wings of the Schneeberg
Altar of Cranach mentioned previously. There are also early examples in
Switzerland (von Imhoff1973:90–91). Typically, larger panel paintings were
cut into more “handsome” parts for easier splitting, as was the case for the
double-sided Crucifixion (front) and Saint Drusiana Raised from the Dead
(back), of around 1440, now in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (inv. MA
2343, 2358), Munich (Figs. 6, 7). The artwork was cut through vertically
along the beam of the cross (Christ’s head was avoided) using a 5 mm thick
saw blade. After the separation into halves,splitting was easier. According
to Dorothea Preyss of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, the date of split-
ting is unknown (Preyss 1994). Adelheid Wiesmann-Emmerling of the206 Schiessl
Figure 5
Late Gothic altar wing, Swabian school (prob-
ably Ulm). Painting on panel, 147 3 100 cm.
Kunstmuseum Saint Gall, Switzerland. This
formerly double-sided painting was split and
then combined into a composite one-sided
painting. After the splitting, which was done
in the nineteenth century, Saint Anne and
Saint James the Great were brought together
and repainted for continuity. The drapery
and the floor on the left side were copied
from the right, and the whole background is
overpainted. Condition before the 1978 con-
servation treatment at the Schweizerisches
Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, Zurich.
Figure 4
Lucas Cranach the Younger, high altar of
Saint Wolfgang’s Church. Split wing with
Adam’s expulsion into hell. Reverse. The
panel wing, probably split in 1712, received a
wooden cradle in 1886 with flat and broad
strips; the condition after removal of the
cradle is seen.