Most Retables of painted panels were either in triptych form (3-panels), or polyptych form (more than 3 panels). The 2-panel variety, known as a diptych was typically created for personal veneration, rather than public worship. A Triptych was a popular format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwards (c.1000 CE).
A polyptych was a hinged altarpiece with more than 3 panels. Polyptychs usually had one large central panel, to which a number of "side" panels, or "wing panels" were attached. This form of altarpiece was especially common in Early Renaissance churches and cathedrals. • Ghent Altarpiece (1425-32) by Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck.
Early examples include: the Wilton Diptych (1395-99) by unknown artists; the Melun Diptych (1450-55), by Jean Fouquet. A modern example of the format is the Marilyn Diptych (1964) by Andy Warhol. • For details of major movements of religious painting, see: History of Art.
Polyptychs usually had one large central panel, to which a number of "side" panels, or "wing panels" were attached. This form of altarpiece was especially common in Early Renaissance churches and cathedrals. • Ghent Altarpiece (1425-32) by Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck.
From the 15th century onwards, non-church triptychs were popular with Netherlandish Renaissance painters such as Hans Memling and Hieronymus Bosch, while modern exponents have included Francis Bacon (see: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944), among others. Famous Triptych Altarpieces.
Diptych. A diptych has 2 hinged panels that fold together. Diptychs have been made for personal use since Roman times, after which they served as devotional religious items during the Early Christian Art era. Such personal diptychs were also known as "travelling icons ".
A polyptych was a hinged altarpiece with more than 3 panels. Polyptychs usually had one large central panel, to which a number of "side" panels, or "wing panels" were attached. This form of altarpiece was especially common in Early Renaissance churches and cathedrals. Famous Polyptych Altarpieces.
There are two basic types of altarpiece. (1) The reredos, a large and often elaborate construction in wood or stone, typically rising from the floor behind the altar. Examples include: St Mary, Krakow (1477-89) carved by Veit Stoss; St Jakob Kirche, Rothenburg (1499-1504) carved by Tilman Riemenschneider; High Altar of the Virgin Mary (1613-16), ...
The altarpiece was one of the highpoints of Christian art during the Late Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, and Counter-Reformation periods. This type of religious art typically consists of one or more paintings, or sculptures (stone or wood-carvings) carved in the round or in relief, or simply a screen or decorated wall.
He was offered a choice: lifetime exile from Athens or death. He chose death over the oppression of his beliefs and his right to teach. Socrates continued to teach his students to the very end of his life. David represents Socrates in the moment right before he takes the poison cup an example of Ancient Virtue.
Likewise, in a subject taken from Greek history (Death of Socrates, above), David emphasizes individual heroism and self-sacrifice in service ofintellectual freedom. Socrates was a teacher, a philosopher, but the Athenians rejected his ideas and methods. He was offered a choice: lifetime exile from Athens or death.
Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1784-5, oil on canvas, Musee du Louvre, Paris. The trendsetter for the Neoclassical art movement was the French painter, Jacques-Louis David, a democrat who imitated Greek and Roman art in order to inspire the new French Republic.
So David the revolutionary artist was forced to paint grandiose canvases depicting Napoleon and Josephine at their coronation. Jacques-Louis David, Death of Socrates, 1787, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
jean auguste dominique ingres, Grand Odalisque, 1814, Musee du Louvre, Paris 1814. The star pupil of David was the French painter, Jean Auguste-Dominique Ingres (pronounced ANN-gruh). Like his master, Ingres had a complete devotion to the ancients and is characterized as a Neoclassicist.