Editing Altarpiece (section)

==History==
===Origins and early development===
In the first several centuries of large Christian churches being built, the altar tended to be further forward (towards the congregation) in the sanctuary than in the later Middles Ages (a position to which it returned in the 20th century) and a large altarpiece would often have blocked the view of a bishop's throne and other celebrants, so decoration was concentrated on other places, with [[antependium]]s or altar frontals, or the surrounding walls.<ref>DeGreve, 12</ref>

Altarpieces seem to have begun to be used during the 11th century, with the possible exception of a few earlier examples. The reasons and forces that led to the development of altarpieces are not generally agreed upon. The habit of placing decorated [[reliquaries]] of saints on or behind the altar, as well as the tradition of decorating the front of the altar with sculptures or textiles, preceded the first altarpieces.<ref name=grove>{{cite book |editor-last= Hourihane|editor-first= Colum|date= 2012|title= The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlMAgAAQBAJ&q=The+Grove+Encyclopedia+of+Medieval+Art+and+Architecture&pg=PA44|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= 44–48|isbn= 978-0-19-539536-5}}</ref> In the Romanesque period, painted [[altar frontal]]s on panel seem to have been a common alternative location for paintings. Few survive, though small [[Catalonia]]n churches preserved several, many now in the [[Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya]] in [[Barcelona]]. The development of altarpieces may have begun at the altars of side chapels, typically engaged with the wall behind, rather than at freestanding main altars.<ref name=":1">DeGreve, 13</ref>

Many early altarpieces were relatively simple compositions in the form of a rectangular panel decorated with series of saints in rows, with a central, more pronounced figure such as a depiction of [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] or [[Christ]]. An elaborate example of such an early altarpiece is the metal and enamel [[Pala d'Oro]] in [[Venice]], extended in the 12th century from an earlier altar frontal.<ref name=":1" /> The appearance and development of these first altarpieces marked an important turning point both in the history of [[Christian art]] as well as Christian religious practice. It was considered a "significant development" because of its impact on the "nature and function of the [[Religious images in Christian theology|Christian image]]...the autonomous image now assumed a legitimate position at the centre of Christian worship".<ref name=grove/>

===The emergence of panel painting===
[[File:Vigoroso da siena1291г из цистерцианского монатыря санта джулия.jpg|thumb|[[Vigoroso da Siena]]'s altarpiece from 1291, an example of an early painted panel altarpiece, with the individual parts framed by gables and sculptured elements]]

Painted panel altars emerged in Italy during the 13th century,<ref name=":2">DeGreve, 13-14</ref> and until the Renaissance were generally the largest and most significant type of [[panel painting]]. In the 13th century, it was not uncommon to find frescoed or mural altarpieces in Italy; mural paintings behind the altar served as visual complements for the liturgy.<ref>Péter Bokody, [https://www.academia.edu/8526688/Mural_Painting_as_a_Medium_Technique_Representation_and_Liturgy "Mural Painting as a Medium: Technique, Representation and Liturgy"], in ''Image and Christianity: Visual Media in the Middle Ages'', ed. Péter Bokody (Pannonhalma: Pannonhalma Abbey, 2014), 136-151.</ref> These altarpieces were influenced by [[Byzantine art]], notably [[icon]]s, which reached Western Europe in greater numbers following the [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|conquest of Constantinople in 1204]]. During this time, altarpieces occasionally began to be decorated with an outer, sculptured or gabled structure with the purpose of providing a frame for individual parts of the altarpiece. [[Vigoroso da Siena]]'s altarpiece from 1291 ''(pictured)'' is an example. This treatment of the altarpiece would eventually pave the way for the emergence, in the 14th century, of the [[polyptych]].<ref name=grove/>

The sculpted elements in the emerging polyptychs often took inspiration from contemporary [[Gothic architecture]]. In Italy, they were still typically executed in wood and painted, while in northern Europe altarpieces were often made of stone.<ref name=grove/>

In the early 14th century, the [[winged altarpiece]] emerged in Germany, the [[Low Countries]], [[Scandinavia]], the [[Baltic region]] and the Catholic parts of [[Eastern Europe]].<ref name=grove/><ref>DeGreve, 13</ref><ref name=splendor>{{cite book |last= Kahsnitz|first= Rainer|date= 2006|title= Carved Splendor: late gothic altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol|publisher= Getty Publications|pages=9–39 |isbn=978-0-89236-853-2}}</ref> They spread to France, but remained rare in Italy. By hinging the outer panels to the central panel and painting them on both sides, the subject could be regulated by opening or closing the wings. The pictures could thus be changed depending on liturgical demands. The earliest often displayed sculptures on the inner panels (i.e., displayed when open) and paintings on the back of the wings (displayed when closed).<ref name=grove/><ref name=":2" /> With the advent of winged altarpieces, a shift in imagery also occurred. Instead of being centred on a single holy figure, altarpieces began to portray more complex narratives linked to the concept of [[Salvation (Christianity)|salvation]].<ref>DeGreve, 13-15</ref>

===Late Middle Ages===
[[File:Rothenburg BW 16.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Rothenburg ob der Tauber|Rothenburg]]: The ''Altarpiece of the Holy Blood'', by [[Tilman Riemenschneider]] (1501–1505). An example of an altarpiece with a central, sculpted section and relief wings.]]

As the [[Middle Ages]] progressed, altarpieces began to be commissioned more frequently. In Northern Europe, initially [[Lübeck]] and later [[Antwerp]] would develop into veritable export centres for the production of altarpieces, exporting to Scandinavia, Spain and northern France.<ref name=splendor/> By the 15th century, altarpieces were often commissioned not only by churches but also by individuals, families, [[guild]]s and confraternities. The 15th century saw the birth of [[Early Netherlandish painting]] in the [[Low Countries]]; henceforth panel painting would dominate altarpiece production in the area. In Germany, sculpted wooden altarpieces were instead often preferred, for example the [[Veit Stoss altarpiece in Kraków]] (completed 1489), while in England there was a 15th-century industry producing relatively cheap painted altarpiece kits in [[Nottingham alabaster]], many of which were exported, the frame being added at the destination. 

In England, as well as in France, stone retables enjoyed general popularity. In Italy both stone retables and wooden polyptychs were common, with individual painted panels and often (notably in [[Venice]] and [[Bologna]]) with complex framing in the form of architectural compositions.<ref name=grove/> In Spain, altarpieces developed in a highly original fashion into often very large, architecturally influenced reredos, sometimes as tall as the church in which it was housed.<ref>DeGreve, 16</ref>

===Renaissance and Reformation===
[[File:The Virgin and Child with Saints and a Donor by Palma Vecchio.jpeg|thumb|[[Sacra conversazione]] with a landscape setting and [[donor portrait]], [[Palma Vecchio]], c. 1519]]
The 15th century also saw a development of the composition of Italian altarpieces where the polyptych was gradually abandoned in favour of single-panel, painted altarpieces.<ref name=grove/> In Italy, the ''[[sacra conversazione]]'' developed, a group usually centred on the [[Virgin and Child]], flanked by a group of saints usually chosen to represent the patron saints of the church, city, [[religious order (Catholic)|religious order]] or donors. These became increasingly informal in pose, and some may have been initially displayed in the donor's house, then bequeathed to a church as a memorial. They represented the same components as many altarpieces with framed compartments, but with a single pictorial space.<ref name=":3">Murrays, 10</ref>

Other types of Italian composition also moved towards having a single large scene, sometimes called a ''pala'' (Italian for "panel"),<ref>Murrays, 362, 10. By contrast in Italian a ''paliotto'' is an [[antependium]] or altar frontal in any medium, Murrays, 364</ref> often dispensing with the predella. Rather than static figures, narrative scenes from the lives of the main figures grew in popularity; this was to become the dominant style for large altarpieces over the next centuries.  Originally mostly horizontal ("landscape") in format, they increasingly used vertical ("portrait") formats. Some were as much as 4 metres tall, and concentrated on a single dramatic action. This much height typically required a composition with an ''in aria'' group to fill the upper part of the picture space, as in [[Raphael]]'s ''[[Transfiguration (Raphael)|Transfiguration]]'' (now Vatican), though ''[[The Raising of Lazarus (Sebastiano del Piombo)|The Raising of Lazarus]]'' by [[Sebastiano del Piombo]] (now London) is almost as tall, using only a landscape at the top.

In Italy, during the Renaissance, free-standing groups of sculpture also began to feature as altarpieces. The most famous example is [[Pietà (Michelangelo)|the ''Pietà'' by Michelangelo]], originally placed as the altarpiece in a side chapel of [[Old St Peter's]].<ref>DeGreve, 17</ref>
[[File:Cranach Reformationsaltar.jpg|thumb|[[Lucas Cranach the Elder]]'s Lutheran [[Wittenberg Altarpiece]], 1547]]

In the north of Europe, the [[Protestant Reformation]] from the early 16th century onwards led to a swift decline in the number of altarpieces produced in the parts of Europe affected.<ref name=grovenr>{{cite book |editor-last= Campbell|editor-first= Gordon |title= The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Art |year= 2009|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-533466-1|volume=1|pages=32–33}}</ref> Outbursts of [[iconoclasm]] locally led to the destruction of many altarpieces.<ref name=csmith>{{cite book |last= Chipps Smith|first= Jeffrey|date= 2004|title= The Northern Renaissance|publisher= Phaidon Press |isbn= 978-0-7148-3867-0|pages=351–380}}</ref> As an example, during the burning of the [[Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp)|Antwerp Cathedral]] in the course of the Reformation in 1533, more than fifty altarpieces were destroyed.<ref name=splendor/> The Reformation initially persisted with the creation of new some altarpieces reflecting its doctrines, sometimes using portraits of Lutheran leaders for figures such as apostles. The Protestant range of subjects contracted; traditional saints were no longer shown, and the [[Last Supper]] was a popular scene. [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]]'s [[Wittenberg Altarpiece]] of 1547 is a leading example, with the side panels showing scenes of the [[sacraments]] with a modern setting, and the single [[predella]] scene [[Martin Luther]] preaching; the reverses are also painted.

But [[Calvinism]] opposed all large public religious images such as altarpieces, and by about 1560 production of Protestant ones had mostly ceased. The Reformation regarded the Word of God – that is, the gospel – as central to Christendom, and Protestant altarpieces were often painted biblical text passages, increasingly at the expense of any pictures. With time, Protestant though gave birth to the so-called [[pulpit altar]] (''Kanzelaltar'' in German), in which the altarpiece and the pulpit were combined, making the altarpiece a literal abode for the Word of God.<ref name=grovenr/>
[[File:Tizian 041.jpg|thumb|[[Titian]], [[Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)|''Assumption'' in the Frari Church]], 1518, panel, 690 cm × 360 cm (270 in × 140 in)]]

If anything, the Protestant destruction stimulated the creation of more and larger altarpieces in Catholic Europe. [[Titian]] produced a number of ones with very large single scenes, mostly now on canvas. Among the most influential were his [[Assumption of the Virgin (Titian)|''Assumption'' in the Frari Church]] (1518, still on panel, 690 cm × 360 cm (270 in × 140 in)), the ''[[Pesaro Madonna]]'' in the same church (1526, now on canvas), [[The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (Titian)|''Killing of Saint Peter Martyr'']] (1529, now lost but known from prints and copies).

===Baroque===
In the [[Baroque]] period, the single scene became standard, sometimes incorporated in an elaborate carved frame. Usually there was no reverse view, as altarpieces were fixed to a wall in side chapels, or a built-up backing for main altars in older churches where there were other chapels behind the main altar. [[Predella]]s and closing side panels became rare, though [[Rubens]]'s [[The Elevation of the Cross (Rubens)|''Elevation of the Cross'']] (1611) has two hinged side-wings, with saints on their other sides, a rather conservative format, in a medieval church.

Increasingly, the size and shape of altarpieces became dictated by the overall design and decoration of the church, which the artist was required to fit in with. If funds allowed several altarpieces were commissioned for Baroque churches when they were first built or re-fitted, for the main and side-altars, giving the whole interior a consistent style. Medieval churches had mostly acquired altarpieces gradually over time, from different donors.

Sculptural altarpieces, or designs integrating painting with sculpture, became more common. Examples by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] (1598–1680), the leading [[Baroque sculptor]] of his day, include his ''[[Ecstasy of Saint Teresa]]'' in [[Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome]], and his sculpted ''concetto'' around the painting by [[Guillaume Courtois]] in [[Sant'Andrea al Quirinale]].<ref>DeGreve, 17-18</ref> Both of these were essentially figures in the round, but [[Alessandro Algardi]]'s ''Pope Leo the Great repelling Attila'' in [[St Peter's Basilica]] is a "huge" [[relief]] with a full scene with over life-size figures.<ref name=":0" /> German Baroque and [[Rococo]] altarpieces also revived the local taste for sculpture, with the figures in many examples (usually in [[stucco]]) spreading around the whole upper level of the church.

===Later developments===
While many altarpieces remain today, the majority have been lost. In 1520, there were 2,000 winged altarpieces in the Austrian state of [[Tyrol (state)|Tyrol]] alone; scholars estimate that before [[World War II]], there were around 3,000 altarpieces in the entire territory of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name=splendor/> Many were lost during the Reformation (in the north of Europe) or replaced with Baroque altarpieces during the [[Counter-Reformation]] (in the southern part of Europe), or else were discarded during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] or replaced with [[Gothic Revival|Neo-Gothic]] altarpieces during the 19th century (particularly in the [[United Kingdom]]). In the [[Germanic-speaking Europe|German-speaking part of Europe]], there is only one altarpiece remaining that was made for the high altar of a cathedral (in [[Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (Chur)|Chur Cathedral]] in Switzerland).<ref name=splendor/> In the 18th century, altarpieces like [[Piero della Francesca]]'s ''[[Saint Augustine Altarpiece (Piero della Francesca)|Saint Augustine Altarpiece]]'' were often disassembled and seen as independent artworks. The different panels of the polyptych of St Augustine are thus today spread out among several different art museums.<ref name=pieromuseum>{{cite web |url= http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/piero-della-francesca-saint-michael|title= Saint Michael completed 1469, Piero della Francesca|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |publisher= The National Gallery|access-date=27 July 2014}}</ref> Double-sided wing panels were often sawn apart by dealers or collectors, to give two paintings for hanging.