This ebook is a new English translation with commentary of Jacqueline Marette's seminal 'Connaissance des Primitifs par l'étude du bois du XIIe au XVIe siècle' (1961). The book is designed to increase specialised understanding of the complex issues of the structural conservation of panel paintings and indirectly to advance best practice for the treatment of these works in collections around the world. As well as rendering Marette’s inestimable work available to the English-speaking world, this on-line edition provides notes and references to the most recent literature in the field, together with illustrations and line drawings of joinery, assembly techniques, tools, etc.