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Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter 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 or sculpture, or a set of them, the word can also be used of the whole ensemble behind an altar, otherwise known as a reredos, including what is often an elaborate frame for the central image or images. Altarpieces were one of the most important products of Christian art especially from the late Middle Ages to the era of Baroque painting. The word altarpiece, used for paintings, usually means a framed work of panel painting on wood, or later on canvas. In the Middle Ages they were generally the largest genre for these formats. Murals in fresco tend to cover larger surfaces. The largest painted altarpieces developed complicated structures, especially winged altarpieces with hinged side wings that folded in to cover the main image, and were painted o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pala D'Oro
Pala d'Oro (Italian Language, Italian, "Golden Panel") is the high altar retable of the St Mark's Basilica, Basilica di San Marco in Venice (and in Italian may refer to other gold altar frontals elsewhere). It is universally recognized as one of the most refined and accomplished works of Byzantine enamel, with both front and rear sides decorated. It was created and expanded in several phases over many centuries. Most of the enamel panels were made in Constantinople or Italy in a Byzantine style, but some were probably looted in Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and brought from there to Venice. History The Pala d'Oro was thought to be first commissioned in 976 by Doge Pietro I Orseolo, Pietro Orseolo, where it was made up of precious stones and several enamels depicting various saints, and in 1105 it was expanded on by Doge Ordelafo Faliero. In 1345, the goldsmith Giovanni Paolo Bonesegna was commissioned to complete the altarpiece by Andrea Dandolo, who was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predella
In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but often (especially in earlier examples), a polyptych or multipanel altarpiece. In late medieval and Renaissance altarpieces, where the main panel consisted of a scene with large figures, it was normal to include a predella below with a number of small-scale narrative paintings depicting events from the life of the dedicatee, whether the ''Life of Christ'', the '' Life of the Virgin'' or a saint. Typically there would be three to five small scenes, in a horizontal format. Sometimes a single space shows different scenes in continuous representation. They are significant in art history, as the artist had more freedom from iconographic conventions than in the main panel as they could only be seen from close up. As the main panels themselve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyptych
A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") 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 are 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 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, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 painting directly onto a wall ( fresco) or on vellum (used for miniatures in illuminated manuscripts). Wood panels were also used for mounting vellum paintings. History Panel painting is very old; it was a very prestigious medium in Greece and Rome, but only very few examples of ancient panel paintings have survived. A series of 6th century BC painted tablets from Pitsa (Greece) represent the oldest surviving Greek panel paintings. Most classical Greek paintings that were famous in their day seem to have been of a size comparable to smaller modern works – perhaps up to a half-length portrait size. However, for a generation in the second quarter of the fifth-century BC there was a movement, called the "new painting" and led by Polygnotus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winged Altarpiece
A winged altarpiece (also ''folding altar'') or winged retable is a special form of altarpiece (reredos, occasionally retable), common in Northern and Central Europe, in which the central image, either a painting or relief sculpture (or some combination of the two) can be hidden by hinged wings. It is called a triptych if there are two wings, a pentaptych (but this is rarely used in English) if there are four, or a polyptych if there are four or more. The technical terms are derived from : ''trís'' or "triple"; πέντε: ''pénte'' or "five"; πολύς: ''polýs'' or "many"; and πτυχή: ''ptychē'' or "fold, layer". There are often images on both the insides and outsides of the wings, enabling the altarpiece to display completely different views when open and closed. It was usually the custom to keep the wings closed except on Sundays or feast days, although very often the sacristan would open them for tourists at any time for a modest tip. Small winged paintings, usu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triptych
A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, 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 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. Etymology The word ''triptych'' was formed in English by compounding the prefix '' tri-'' with the word '' diptych''. ''Diptych'' is borrowed from the Latin , which itself is derived from the Late Greek () . is the neuter plural of () . In art The triptych form appears in early Christian art, and was a popular standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages onwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for example very grand carved chimneypieces. It also refers to a simple, low stone wall placed behind a hearth. Description A reredos can be made of stone, wood, metal, ivory, or a combination of materials. The images may be painted, carved, gilded, composed of mosaics, and/or embedded with Niche (architecture), niches for statues. Sometimes a tapestry or another fabric such as silk or velvet is used. Derivation and history of the term ''Reredos'' is Etymology, derived through Middle English from the 14th-century Anglo-Norman ''areredos'', which in turn is from''arere'' 'behind' +''dos'' 'back', from Latin . (Despite its appearance, the first part of the word is not formed by doubling the prefix "re-", but by an archaic spell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Museu Nacional D'Art De Catalunya
The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, the museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of Romanesque art, Romanesque church paintings, and for Art of Catalonia, Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The museum is housed in the , a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929. The Palau Nacional, which has housed the Museu d'Art de Catalunya since 1934, was declared a national museum in 1990 under the Museums Law passed by the Catalan Government. That same year, a thorough renovation process was launched to refurbish the site, based on plans drawn up by the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegmann, who were later joined in the undertaking by Josep Benedito. The Oval Hall was reopened for the 1992 S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Art
Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media. Images of Jesus and narrative scenes from the Life of Christ in art, Life of Christ are the most common subjects, and scenes from the Old Testament play a part in the art of most denominations. Images of the Mary (mother of Jesus), Virgin Mary and saints are much rarer in Protestant art than that of Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Christianity makes far wider use of images than related religions, in which figurative representations are forbidden, such as Aniconism in Islam, Islam and Aniconism in Judaism, Judaism. However, there are some that have promoted aniconism in Christianity, and there have been periods of iconoclasm within Christianity. History Beginnings Early Christian art survives from dates near the origins of Christianity, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramic art, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or Molding (process), moulded or Casting, cast. Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents the majority of the surviving works (other than pottery) from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely. In addition, most ancient sculpture was painted, which h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diptych
A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a recessed space filled with wax. Writing was accomplished by scratching the wax surface with a stylus. When the notes were no longer needed, the wax could be slightly heated and then smoothed to allow reuse. Ordinary versions had wooden frames, but more luxurious diptychs were crafted with more expensive materials. Etymology The word ''diptych'' is borrowed from the Latin , which itself is derived from the Late Greek () . is the neuter plural of () . Art ] As an art term a diptych is an artwork consisting of two pieces or panels that together create a single art piece. These can be fastened together or presented adjoining each other. In medieval times, panels were often hinged so that they could be closed and the artworks protected. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relief
Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background Plane (geometry), plane. When a relief is carved into a flat surface of stone (relief sculpture) or wood (relief carving), the field is actually lowered, leaving the unsculpted areas seeming higher. The approach requires chiselling away of the background, which can be time-intensive. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, particularly in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mâché the form can be simply added to or raised up from the bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
