fils,preserved in the Louvre).^52 This inert support was called trésailles
(Lameer e 1930:245). This word was used differ ently by Diderot in the eigh-
teenth century, de Littré in the nineteenth century, and Larousse in the
twentieth century.^53 This support is proposed for use in the backing of
panels that have been thinned to 2 mm. In fact, this material, which was
considered inferior to wood, does not seem to have been used very much,
even though in 1948 Gilbert Malesset did use it to back one of the thinned
boards of a famous Rubens painting, Sainte Hélène,at the Hospice de
Grasse (Bergeon 1990:39–41).Treatment of splits
In addition to the procedures of transfer and cradling, whose “longitudinal
slats allow splits of wood to be repaired” (Mouseion1938:242), the dovetail
tenons inlaid across the grain seem to have been used very early to repair
splits, as was the type of intervention made by Bouvard on the Mona Lisa
before its theft in 1911. Two dovetail tenons inlaid in the panel against the
grain (one of which still exists) in order to stop the progress of the upper
split fulfilled their function perfectly.^54 This procedure was also to be used
by the cabinetmaker Castor, who specialized in wood supports in his work
for the Louvre between 1953 and 1957. But the constraining nature of the
dovetail against the grain and the removal of the old wood were two impor-
tant disadvantages of the method, which was usually used too routinely.Treatment of worm-eaten wood
In the documentary sources, there is no mention of the different types of
biological attacks to which wood is susceptible, and in any event, authors
often seem to confuse mold with insect damage. The archives mention
“rotten boards,” but subsequent references suggest boards that have been
attacked by worms and insect larvae rather than damaged by mold.
Removal of the worm-eaten wood was generally preferred, with
radical treatment by transfer often proposed as the only means to restore
the bearing function of the support. Lead white was chosen to fill in the
cavities.^55 In the nineteenth century shellac was chosen, since it is a much
better treatment for worm-eaten wood than lead white. Shellac rigidifies
the inner tunnels but becomes reddish black, transforming the appearance
ofthe wood by giving it a dark sheen. In 1950 Henri Linard, a restorer at
the Louvre, gave up shellac in favor of wax-resin (beeswax and damar
resin). Shellac was still used in the Louvre in the 1950s, although not sys-
tematically, as a rigidifier of the inner tunnels of worms. Worm-eaten
wood was also replaced locally by an inlay of healthy wood, as can be seen
in Bouvard’s 1905 treatment of thePietàof Avignon, for which he used
tulipwood from Virginia (Bergeon 1990:35–38).Early examples of frames fitted to panels
Germain Bazin has noted that pictures preserved in their old frames have
often behaved better than others. Bazin, who was in constant contact with
Cesare Brandi, the art historian and founder of the Istituto Centrale del
Restauro in Rome, was well informed of international developments in
restoration as of 1950 and, reflecting the spirit of the age, wanted presti-
gious paintings to be subjected to only minimal intervention. In 1953 he
asked the cabinetmaker Castor simply to fit aframe for van Eyck’s famous272 Bergeon, Emile-Mâle, Huot, and Baÿ