61 The Holy Cross retable ding on the edges of this board, it is most likely that it had been cut when already gilded and painted. This may point to a reduction of width or the deliberate use of ready prepared elements, which were cut to fit. There is a 0.2-0.5 cm gap between the piece with the cartouche and the adjacent boards with carved acanthus ornaments. The joint is clearly visible as it has not been filled. Instead, it was simply painted over with blue paint. Further observations on nails in the gilded mouldings of the predella are puzzling. They were driven through the finished gilding, probably to complete the construction with further decorative elements. As a rule, all other nails are hidden underneath the finished gilding and polychromy. Furthermore, these mouldings do not match the decorative elements seen on the architrave and the pediment of the retable. These observations can only be explained hypothetically. It is possible that the retable was never fully completed or that it was made with prefabricated parts that were then adapted to the desired shape on site. The lack of decoration on the outer sides may be the result of a temporary relocation of the retable during the renovation of the church interior, combined with some adjustments, changes, and thus the loss of several elements. Condition The retable still shows the original polychromy and was touched in the past only in a few areas - the sculpture and the background of the niche was overpainted; modern tongue and groove boards had been used to build postaments next to the stipes. The retable was found in an extremely bad state of preservation. Lifting and flaking of the paint layer and gilding was present on all surfaces with significant losses in painted and gilded areas, revealing the wooden support with only traces of the ground layer (Fig. 91-93). Centuries have deposited dust and dirt on all surfaces. One of the most significant problems was the warping and shrinkage of the painted boards flanking the central niche (Fig. 94). This damage was caused by frequent and extensive changes in relative humidity and temperature due to a small unglazed rosette window located in the wall directly behind the retable. The deterioration of some carved ornaments caused by wood eating insects posed an additional problem.
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