The parts of an altarpiece: corpus, wings and predella

A medieval altarpiece consists of a central shrine, sometimes called the corpus, with carved and gilded figures under a carved roof, the canopy. On each side are wings, doors with paintings or reliefs, which were closed during Lent and opened on feast days. Beneath the shrine is a low base, the predella, and on top a crest of pinnacles. The altarpiece stands on the altar table. Sweden has an unusually large number of surviving altarpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Facts

A cabinet that opens

The word altarpiece (altarskåp, literally altar cabinet) says the most important thing: it is a cabinet that stands on the altar and can be opened and closed. This distinguishes it from a panel altarpiece, which is a fixed painting. The oldest form is the triptych, with a central part and two wings that cover it when folded in. Larger cabinets could have two pairs of wings and thus three positions.

The altarpiece followed the church year. During Lent and on weekdays the wings were closed, and then their painted outsides were visible, often in muted colours. On Sundays and major feast days they were opened, and the gold of the central shrine gleamed in the light from the windows and the candles. The opening was part of the service. The diagram below shows an opened altarpiece; point at the parts to see their names.

The parts from top to bottom

At the top sits the crest, pinnacles and finials in openwork wood that imitate a Gothic cathedral. Below comes the canopy, the carved, pointed-arched roof over the figures in the shrine. The central shrine is the heart of the altarpiece: a box with gilded niches in which carved figures of saints stand, often with Mary or a scene from the Passion of Christ in the middle. In Latin, and in some Swedish literature, it is called the corpus, the body.

The wings are hinged on either side. Their insides often have reliefs or paintings in the same gold as the central shrine, the outsides paintings. Beneath the shrine sits the predella, a low base that could hold small paintings or a space for relics. Everything stands on the altar table, where Mass was celebrated. The terms are also in the glossary, under triptych and altarpiece among others.

Wood, chalk and gold

The figures were usually carved in oak or lime. They were then covered with several layers of chalk and glue, which were sanded smooth, and then painted and gilded. The work is called polychromy, and it was often as expensive as the carving itself. The gold leaf was laid on a red clay ground and burnished until it gleamed like metal. The folds of the clothes sometimes had a pattern incised in the gold.

Sculptors and painters were often different craftsmen, but the large workshops in Lübeck, Brussels and Antwerp did everything under one roof. Bernt Notke in Lübeck was both sculptor and painter and made, among other things, the high altarpiece in Aarhus Cathedral in 1479. He was also the master behind St George and the Dragon in Storkyrkan, which is not an altarpiece but shows the same technique: oak, polychromy and gilding, and the dragon's spikes made of real elk antlers.

Altarpieces in Sweden

In the late Middle Ages Swedish churches bought altarpieces from the workshops to the south. From Lübeck came altarpieces for churches around the Baltic, and from Brussels and Antwerp came lavish altarpieces with many small figures in lively scenes, as in Strängnäs and Västerås cathedrals. Many country churches have smaller altarpieces with a Madonna and a few saints.

Sweden has an unusually large number of surviving altarpieces. The Reformation here was less violent towards images than in, for example, the Netherlands and Scotland, and many altarpieces were left in place or moved to the sides of the churches and later to museums. At the same time Albertus Pictor and others painted the churches' vaults. Read more in The Swedish Middle Ages and, on the church interior, in the architecture section's guide The parts of a church and the section on the church.

From altarpiece to altar painting

In Flanders the wings eventually became paintings of the highest quality. The great altarpiece in Ghent, completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432, has twelve panels with paintings on both inside and outside. Even in the Baroque an altar painting could have wings. Rubens's The Descent from the Cross in Antwerp Cathedral is a triptych: the central panel shows Christ being taken down from the cross, and on the outsides of the closed wings St Christopher can be seen carrying the Christ Child.

But more and more often the altar's picture became a single large painting in an architectural frame. El Greco's The Burial of the Count of Orgaz of 1586 still hangs above the count's tomb in the church in Toledo, without wings. In Swedish churches many medieval altarpieces were replaced in the 17th and 18th centuries by Baroque altar fittings in carved and painted wood.

What to look for in a church

Walk up to the altar and see whether the altarpiece has hinges. If it has wings, it is probably medieval, and you can wonder what is visible when they are closed. Look for the predella at the bottom and for the crest; often the crest has broken off and been lost. Look for traces of paint and gold beneath later overpainting.

Then look at the figures. If they are many, small and lively, the altarpiece probably comes from Brussels or Antwerp. If they are few, large and calm, perhaps from Lübeck or a Swedish workshop. The attributes, keys for Peter and a sword for Paul, tell you who is who; see the guide to iconography and attributes. How the Gothic picture gave way to the Renaissance one is described in From Gothic to Renaissance, and the period is found under the Gothic.

What to look for

Exercise

What is the base beneath an altarpiece called?