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19-600: The open, three winged polyptych altar image shows scenes from the Passion of Christ to his Ascension in continuous sequence from left to right. At the assumed time of composition, this type of depiction was already well-established. On the left wing of the altar, Jesus is crowned with the Crown of thorns and confronts Pontius Pilate . The central panel depicts the Stations of the Cross , with

38-481: A dark beret is often considered a self-portrait of the painter. In the background of the left panel a church with unfinished towers is visible, which was long thought to be Cologne Cathedral (probably incorrectly). The Schildergasse and the Dreikönigenpförtchen have been similarly identified in the alley in front of the cathedral, while the church facade poking out from behind a column has been identified as

57-518: A polyptych is often seen in a devotional setting, often found as altarpieces . Whilst the precise origins of polyptychal art is uncertain, the earliest examples have been described as coming from Italy in the early 14th century. The development of Church art in the 13th century saw a fusing of the Byzantine iconostasis with the Gothic architectural style . These twin influences resulted in something resembling

76-462: A unified background, but Rubens still painted some very large winged altarpieces in the early 17th century, such as his Descent from the Cross triptych, of 1612–1614, in Antwerp Cathedral , which also has his Raising of the Cross and Resurrection triptychs, of similar date. By this time this format was unusual. Master of the legend of St. Ursula (Cologne) The Master of

95-419: A variety of reasons, they were often broken up and individual panels dispersed into the art trade, to be treated as easel paintings . Panels with paintings on both sides were often carefully sawn apart, to give two one-sided panels. Finding and reconstructing the parts of dispersed polyptychs has been the subject of much research in art history since the 19th century. In medieval history, a different sense of

114-612: Is a work of art (usually a panel painting ) which is divided into sections, or panels. Some definitions restrict "polyptych" to works with more than three sections: a diptych is a two-part work of art; a triptych is a three-part work; a tetraptych or quadriptych has four parts. The great majority of historical examples a paintings with religious subjects, but in the 20th century the format became popular again for portraits and other subjects, in painting, photography, and other media. Historically, polyptychs were panel paintings that typically displayed one "central" or "main" panel that

133-440: Is depicted in contemporary clothing in a local landscape. The biblical scenes are presented to the viewer, providing the opportunity for introspection. Furthermore, in the division of the centrepiece into a "good side" on the left of the crucifixion and a "bad side" on the right and in the direction of glances and gestures towards the viewer, the panel demands that the viewer make a personal choice between salvation and damnation. On

152-521: The Carmelite cloister of Cologne. On the outsides of the wings there are six saints under an arcade in front of a brocade pattern, who are face the viewer when the triptych is closed. The outer two saints are Carmelites and are especially emphasised by church steeples. The saints on the left wing are the Carmelite Saint Anthony of Hungary , Saint Barbara , Saint Sebastian ; the saints on

171-624: The Crucifixion of Jesus as the central scene. This panel also shows the Harrowing of Hell and the suicide of Judas . On the right wing is the Lamentation of Christ , his burial , the meeting with Mary Magdalen , and the Ascension . The painter stresses the passion scenes as a bloody ordeal through the use of red paint throughout the whole image. With the exception of Jesus, Mary and John , everyone

190-408: The "closed" view, except on Sundays or feast-days, or if visitors paid the sacristan for a sight of the "open" view. The upper panels often depict static scenes, while the lower register, the predella , often depict small narrative scenes. Large polyptychs were most commonly created as altarpieces in churches and cathedrals , although smaller diptychs and triptychs could be personal works for

209-555: The Cologne Legend of St. Ursula ( German : Meister der Kölner Ursula-Legende ; active 1489–1515) was a German Renaissance painter. He was named Meister der Kölner Ursula-Legende after a series of paintings depicting the life of Saint Ursula once found in the Basilica of St. Severin, Cologne . Since World War II, when much of the series was lost, the remaining fragments of paintings have been scattered in various museums. He

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228-552: The Cologne collection of Haan, from whom Aachen Cathedral acquired it in 1872. At that point it was installed in the Choir . The unknown master responsible for the work, tentatively identified with the engraver P.W., seems to have been active in Cologne between 1480 and 1580. This explains the close relationship of his work to the works of his contemporaries in Cologne, the Master of St Severin and

247-512: The Renaissance polyptych that is recognisable today. The work of Duccio di Buoninsegna , who was active in Siena in the early-to-mid 14th century offers early examples of the polyptych form, with the early Italo-Byzantine influences. By the Renaissance, both large altarpiece polyptychs and smaller domestic ones were falling out of fashion, partly because artists preferred to paint single scenes with

266-618: The earlier Master of the legend of St. Ursula , as a demonstration of the popularity of altar images in Cologne around 1495/1500. Aspects of technique support its origin in the Middle Rhine , but Early Netherlandish influence is visible, as well as that of Antwerp Mannerism . The depiction of the sick child, the blind Roman legionnaires and the syphilitic judges betrays a degree of detail which seems almost medical. Polyptych A polyptych ( / ˈ p ɒ l ɪ p t ɪ k / POL -ip-tik ; Greek : poly- "many" and ptychē "fold")

285-802: The left wing are Saint Lawrence , Saint Catherine and the Carmelite Saint Angel . The exact date of the triptych's donation is not known. The supposed donor, Theodericus de Gouda was the Provincial superior of the Carmelite Cloister of Cologne and died in 1539. The triptych was on the Volksaltar of the Cologne Carmelite Church until 1642. It came into the Cologne collection of the Jacob Lyversberg before 1834 after which it went to

304-504: The left wing, the soldier bringing Jesus to Pilate has a scimitar and suit of armour of Turkish style, reflecting the great fear of a Turkish attack on Christian Europe at the time of the work's composition. In addition, a child with signs of down syndrome being deloused by a monkey in the possession of Satan , alludes to the role of Satan (who appears in person on the upper right of the central panel) in Christ's death. The thin youth with

323-410: The rich, for example the royal Wilton Diptych , a very personal work made for Richard II of England . They had the advantage that they could be folded up to make them more secure from damage during travel. Another form was the carved ivory polyptych, most often religious, but with some secular subjects (these were more common on ivory boxes or mirrors). When the altarpieces later came out of use, for

342-560: The word is the polyptych meaning a document detailing the lands that a noble owned. Many also featured names of the peasants that lived there, allowing for historians to track the history of peasant families. The 9th-century monastic Polyptych of Irminon is an example. Whilst the polyptych originated as a form of sacred art, as a term to describe art in general, it can be seen to encompass any work of art constituted by multiple pieces of art such as sculpture, photography, or video and text-based art forms. In European Renaissance painting ,

361-540: Was usually the largest; the other panels are called "side" panels, or if hinged , "wings". Folding forms were much more common north of the Alps. Sometimes, as evident in the Ghent Altarpiece and Isenheim Altarpiece , the hinged panels can be varied in arrangement to show different "views" or "openings" in the piece, because the wing panels are painted with images on both sides. The wings were usually kept folded shut, showing

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