Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece) MET DP273206

A triptych ( ; from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

(usually a

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

) that is divided into three sections, or three

carved Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a "triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapty ...

, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels. The form can also be used for

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

jewelry. Beyond its association with art, the term is sometimes used more generally to connote anything with three parts, particularly if integrated into a single unit.

In art

The triptych form appears in early Christian art, and was a popular standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwards. Its geographical range was from the eastern

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

churches to the Celtic churches in the west. During the Byzantine period, triptychs were often used for private devotional use, along with other relics such as icons. Renaissance painters such as

Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...

and

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

used the form. Sculptors also used it. Triptych forms also allow ease of transport. From the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

period onward, both in Europe and elsewhere, altarpieces in churches and cathedrals were often in triptych form. One such cathedral with an altarpiece triptych is

Llandaff Cathedral Llandaff Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is an Anglican cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter ...

. The Cathedral of Our Lady in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, contains two examples by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

, and

Notre Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

is another example of the use of triptych in architecture. The form is echoed by the structure of many ecclesiastical

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s. The triptych form's transportability was exploited during World War Two when a private citizens' committee in the United States commissioned painters and sculptors to create portable three-panel hinged altarpieces for use by Christian and Jewish U.S. troops for religious services. By the end of the war, 70 artists had created 460 triptychs. Among the most prolific were

Violet Oakley Violet Oakley (June 10, 1874 – February 25, 1961) was an American artist. She was the first American woman to receive a public mural commission. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, she was renowned as a pathbreaker in mural deco ...

Nina Barr Wheeler Nina Barr Wheeler (September 3, 1909 – May 1, 1978) was an American artist. She worked with Hildreth Meiere on many of her murals, and also was a painter of Catholic religious art. She studied painting at the Art Students League of New Yo ...

, and

Hildreth Meiere Hildreth may refer to: Places * Hildreth, California *Hildreth, Nebraska *Hildreth Cemetery Hildreth Cemetery is a small cemetery located on Hildreth Street at Sutherland and By Streets in the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts. ...

. The triptych format has been used in non-Christian faiths, including,

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. For example: the triptych ''Hilje-j-Sherif'' displayed at the

National Museum of Oriental Art Rome's National Museum of Oriental Art "Giuseppe Tucci" (Italian: Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale 'Giuseppe Tucci' ) is a museum (now closed) in Rome, Italy, that was dedicated to the arts of the Orient, from the Middle East to Japan. The museum w ...

, Rome, Italy, and a page of the ''

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

'' at the

Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum ( tr, ) is a museum located in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 1524, the building was formerly the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, who was the second grand vizier t ...

in Istanbul, Turkey, exemplify Ottoman religious art adapting the motif. Likewise, Tibetan Buddhists have used it in traditional altars. Although strongly identified as a religious

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

form, triptychs outside that context have been created, some of the best-known examples being works by

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920 ...

and

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

. When Bacon's 1969 triptych, ''

Three Studies of Lucian Freud ''Three Studies of Lucian Freud'' is a 1969 oil-on-canvas triptych by the Irish-born British painter Francis Bacon, depicting artist Lucian Freud. It was sold in November 2013 for 142.4 million, which at the time was the highest price attained ...

'', was sold in 2013 for $142.4 million, it was the highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction at that time. That record was broken in May 2015 by $179.4 million for

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

's 1955 painting '' Les Femmes d’Alger''.

In photography

Epilobium hirsutum - Seed head - Triptych

A photographic triptych is a common style used in modern commercial artwork. The photographs are usually arranged with a plain border between them. The work may consist of separate images that are variants on a theme, or may be one larger image split into three.

Examples

Stefaneschi Triptych The ''Stefaneschi Altarpiece'' is a triptych by the Italian painter Giotto (c. 1267 – 1337), commissioned by Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi to serve as an altarpiece for one of the altars of Old St. Peter's Ba ...

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

, c. 1330 * ''

Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus The ''Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus'' is a painting by the Italian Gothic artists Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, now housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. It is a wooden triptych painted in tempera and gold, with a ...

'' by

Simone Martini Simone Martini ( – 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style. It is thought that Martini was a pupil ...

, 1333 * The

Mérode Altarpiece The Mérode Altarpiece (or ''Annunciation Triptych'') is an oil on oak panel triptych, now in The Cloisters, in New York City. It is unsigned and undated, but attributed to Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin and an assistant. The three pan ...

Robert Campin Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Early Netherlandish paint ...

, late 1420's * ''

The Garden of Earthly Delights ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. It has bee ...

'', ''

Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony The ''Triptych of Temptation of St. Anthony'' is an oil painting on wood panels by the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, dating from around 1501. The work portrays the mental and spiritual torments endured by Saint Anthony the Great ( ...

'' and ''

The Haywain Triptych The ''Haywain Triptych'' is a panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. A date of around 1516 has been established by means of dendrochronological research. The central panel, signed "Jheronimus Bosch", measur ...

'' by

* The

Portinari Altarpiece The Portinari Altarpiece or Portinari Triptych (c. 1475) is an oil on wood triptych painting by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, representing the Adoration of the Shepherds. It measures 253 x 304 cm ...

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduced important innovations in pa ...

, c. 1475 * The

Buhl Altarpiece The Buhl Altarpiece (french: Retable de Buhl) is a late 15th-century, Gothic art, Gothic altarpiece of colossal dimensions now kept in the parish church ''Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste'' of Buhl, Haut-Rhin, Buhl in the Haut-Rhin, Haut-Rhin départe ...

, c. 1495 * ''

The Raising of the Cross The raising of the Cross or elevation of the Cross has been a distinct subject in the Life of Christ in art depicting the start of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

'' by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

, 1610 or 1611 * ''The Aino Myth'' triptych by

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the ''Kalevala'', the Finnish national epic. His work is considered a very important aspect of the Finnish national ident ...

, 1891 * '' The Pioneer'' by

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

, 1904 * ''Departure'' by

, 1932–33 * '' Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion'' by

, 1944

Gallery

File:Cracow Legend of Saint Stanislaus 01.jpg, Wooden model to the silver triptych of Saint Stanislaus, ca. 1512,

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

File:Master of Frankfurt (Maestro de Francfort), Sagrada Familia con ángel músico, Santa Catalina de Alejandría, Santa Bárbara, 1510-1520, Museo del Prado, Madrid..jpg,

Master of Frankfurt The Master of Frankfurt (1460–c. 1533) was a Flemish Renaissance painter active in Antwerp between about 1480 and 1520.Stephen H. Goddard, "Master of Frankfurt," ''Grove Art Online'', Oxford University Press ccessed 9 April 2008/ref>Kate Chall ...

, ''Sagrada Familia con ángel músico, Santa Catalina de Alejandría, Santa Bárbara'', 1510–1520,

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, Madrid File:Klosterneuburg - Stift, Verduner Altar (1).JPG, The Verdun Altar in

Klosterneuburg Monastery Klosterneuburg Abbey or Monastery (german: Stift Klosterneuburg) is a twelfth-century Augustinian monastery of the Roman Catholic Church located in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. Overlooking the Danube, just north of the Vienna city l ...

References

External links

The Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper with St. Peter and St. Paul

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

On the triptych as a writing instrument

Example of triptych features and restoration
{{Authority control Articles containing video clips Altarpieces Artistic techniques Church architecture Iconography Optical illusions Picture framing Romanesque art Rotational symmetry Sculpture Symmetry Synagogue architecture Triptychs Visual motifs Binocular rivalry

In art

In photography

Examples

Gallery

See also

References

External links