Glue-size

Well-known and relatively well-preserved – though substantially damaged – the most notable examples include Quentin Matsys' Virgin and Child with Saints Barbara and Catherine (c. 1515–25)[1] and Dirk Bouts' Entombment (c.

A binding agent for pigment was made by boiling animal skin mixed with other organic tissue and applied to linen, itself prepared with a thin layer of glue.

[4] The advantage of using glue as a binder is that the colours render as matte and opaque textures suited to austere or mournful images as opposed to the translucent appearance associated with oil.

[3] Although it allowed fine linear detail, subtle tonal transition and at times vivid colourisation, by the end of the 15th century the medium, along with egg tempera, had fallen out of favour.

Other Netherlandish examples from approximately a century earlier include the Virgin and Child with Saints Barbara and Catherine by Quentin Matsys c. 1515–25, and The Entombment by Dieric Bouts c.1440–55 and related works by Bouts including his Annunciation (now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California), Adoration of the Kings (now in a private collection in Germany) and Presentation (or Resurrection; now in the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California) which may have formed part of a single polyptych.