Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. Con-
sidered one of the masterpieces of Northern Renaissance art, a 1.2 The emergence of panel painting
complex polyptych panel painting, which lost its elaborate frame-
work in the Reformation
1
2 1 HISTORY
In Italy, they were still typically executed in wood and altarpieces where the polyptych was gradually abandoned
painted, while in northern Europe altarpieces were often in favour of single-panel, painted altarpieces.[5] In Italy,
made of stone.[5] during the Renaissance, free-standing groups of sculp-
[6]
The early 14th century saw the emergence, in Germany, ture also began to feature as altarpieces. In Spain, al-
the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Baltic region and the tarpieces developed in a highly original fashion into often
Catholic parts of Eastern Europe, of the winged altar- very large, architecturally inuenced reredos, [6]
sometimes
piece.[5][6][8]
By hinging the outer panels to the central as tall as the church in which it was housed.
panel and painting them on both sides, the motif could be In the north of Europe, the Protestant Reformation
regulated by opening or closing the wings. The pictures from the early 16th century onwards led to a swift de-
could thus be changed depending on liturgical demands. cline in the number of altarpieces produced.[9] Outbursts
The earliest often displayed sculptures on the inner pan- of iconoclasm locally led to the destruction of many
els, i.e. displayed when open, and paintings on the back of altarpieces.[10] As an example, during the burning of the
the wings, displayed when closed.[5][6] With the advent of Antwerp Cathedral in the course of the Reformation in
winged altarpieces, a shift in imagery also occurred. In- 1533, more than fty altarpieces were destroyed.[8] The
stead of being centred on a single holy gure, altarpieces Reformation in itself also promoted a new way of view-
began to portray more complex narratives linked to the ing religious art. Certain motifs, such as the Last Sup-
Christian concept of salvation.[6] per, were preferred before others. The Reformation re-
garded the Word of God that is, the gospel as cen-
tral to Christendom, and Protestant altarpieces often dis-
1.3 Late Middle Ages and Renaissance played the actual words from the bible, sometimes at the
expense of pictures. With time, Protestant though gave
birth to the so-called pulpit altar, or Kanzelaltar in Ger-
man, in which the altarpiece and the pulpit are combined,
thus making the altarpiece quite literally the abode of the
Word of God.[9]
The Altarpiece of the Holy Blood, by Tilman Riemenschnei- Canvas painting started to replace other types of altar-
der (15011505). An example of an altarpiece with a central, pieces during the mid-16th century and onwards.[4] The
sculpted section and relief wings. Middle Ages was the heyday of the production and use
of altarpieces. While many of these remain today, the
As the Middle Ages progressed, altarpieces began to be majority have been lost. Scholars estimated that be-
commissioned more frequently. In Northern Europe, ini- fore World War II there were more than 3,000 altar-
tially Lbeck and later Antwerp would develop into veri- pieces in the territory of the Third Reich; as a com-
table export centres for the production of altarpieces, ex- parison, it has been calculated that in 1520 there were
porting to Scandinavia, Spain and northern France.[8] By roughly 2,000 winged altarpieces only in the churches of
the 15th century, altarpieces were often commissioned the Austrian state of Tyrol.[8] Many were lost during the
not only by churches but also by individuals, families, Reformation (in the north of Europe) or replaced with
guilds and confraternities. The 15th century saw the birth Baroque altarpieces during the Counter-Reformation (in
of Early Netherlandish painting in the Low Countries; the southern part of Europe), or else were discarded
henceforth panel painting would dominate altarpiece pro- during the Enlightenment or replaced with Neo-Gothic
duction in the area. In Germany, sculpted wooden altar- ones during the 19th century. In the German-speaking
pieces were instead generally preferred, while in England part of Europe, only a single altarpiece made for the
alabaster was used to a large extent. In England, as well high altar of a cathedral has been preserved (in the Chur
as in France, stone retables enjoyed general popularity. Cathedral, Switzerland).[8] In the eighteenth century al-
In Italy both stone retables and wooden polyptychs were tarpieces, such as Piero della Francesca's polyptych of
common, with individual painted panels and often (no- Saint Augustine, were often disassembled and seen as in-
tably in Venice and Bologna) with complex framing in dependent artworks. The dierent panels of the polyp-
the form of architectural compositions. The 15th cen- tych of St Augustine are thus today spread out among
tury also saw a development of the composition of Italian several dierent art museums.[11]
3
7.2 Images
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
File:Lamgods_open.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Lamgods_open.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/e/eyck_van/jan/09ghent/1open.jpg' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img
alt='Inkscape.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.png' width='20'
height='20' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png 1.5x, https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='60' data-le-height='60'
/></a> Image <a href='http://www.wga.hu/html/e/eyck_van/jan/09ghent/1open.html' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information
icon.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png'
width='20' height='20' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_
icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png
2x' data-le-width='620' data-le-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Jan van Eyck
File:Rothenburg_BW_16.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Rothenburg_BW_16.JPG License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Berthold Werner
File:Vigoroso_da_siena1291_____.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Vigoroso_da_siena1291%D0%B3_%D0%B8%D0%B7_%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%
D0%B5%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%BC%D0%
BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8B%D1%80%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%B4%
D0%B6%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%8F.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.gallerianazionaleumbria.it/
sale-1-4-pittura-e-scultura-del-xiii-e-xiv-secolo-2.html Original artist: Vigoroso da Siena