103 The Church of Our Lady od Špilice – St Mary retable / St Joseph retable As visible from glossy stains, a consolidation of worm-eaten wood was performed probably in the context of this treatment. Polychromy The St Joseph retable has a general plain reddish-brown polychromy with gilded ornaments and mouldings. Only the lower frieze of the architrave shows a different decoration featuring a series of brown quatrefoils (Fig. 163). In contrast to the St Mary retable and in contrast to usual practice, the preparation layer of the St Joseph retable was applied exclusively to the gilded areas (Fig. 163, 164). Poorly defined brush strokes, tears, and droplets of the material were left on the adjacent flat areas and are still clearly recognisable in raking light and close view (Fig. 164, yellow arrows). These traces have not been reduced, but application of the thin reddish bole layer and of gold leaf was performed immediately. The following brownish paint layer was then applied to all flat background areas. It has poor hiding power and is not able to completely cover the irregularities of the gold leaf borders and the droplets of the previously applied preparation. The brownish colour defines the outlines of the gilded ornaments to a certain extent, but was applied in a cursory, not very precise or subtle way. Fig. 163: St Joseph retable; architrave, detail with brownish quatrefoil ornament; note the simple quality and poor hiding power of the general brown colour, the preparation for only the gilded elements is clearly visible (red arrow); condition before treatment, 2011
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