Lecture 6: Tradition and Innovation in the Italian Renaissance Altarpiece

Key Ideas

1. The functional nature of altarpieces (NOT for Art’s sake)

   • Should not divorce them from their original, site-specific context

   • Engagement w/ the altarpiece during religious rites

2. The stylistic evolution of the altarpiece to fit Middle Ages —> Renaissance ideals

   (A) As its contexts of usage changed (e.g. position of the priest; congregation size)

   (B) To become more affective & effective religious objects; new dramatic force

   • Polyptych

   • Predella

   • Pala

Definitions

• Altarpiece

  • Function

  • Types

• Altar

  • Function

  • Design

Altarpiece

• An image-bearing structure, e.g:

  • Tapestry

  • Painting

  • Sculpture

• Set upon/abutting the back of the altarblock

  • Site-specific

• Functional; NOT made for art’s sake (e.g. to be hung up as decoration)

• Sometimes is also called a retable

• Types:

  • Side altar (donated by private patrons)

  • High altar (donated by priests, etc.)

Where the altarpiece would be positioned depended on the patron’s status

Altar

• A table/similar raised structure

• For sacrificial, Eucharistic or other religious purposes

  • E.g. the tomb of Christ

  • E.g. the table from the Last Supper

• The altar makes the altarpiece ⭐

  • An altar DOESN’T always require an altarpiece, but an object can’t be considered an altarpiece if it was never used in an altar

• Typical design:

  • Words often inscribed along the peripheral of the altar block

    • Advertise the saint that the altar is for

    • BUT not everyone can read

      = greater accessibility of images

  • Images’ designs often reflect what happens on/around the altar

    • E.g. burning of incense

      E.g. animal sacrifice

Existing problems/limitations in art-historical study (2)

1. Many museums call an object an altarpiece when it really isn’t

2. Many fragments of the altarpiece are today framed individually, as if they are independent paintings

   • Divorced from original context

Historical development (8th-20th century)

8th century: first known altarpieces

• Antependium-like rectangular panel

• Usually showing a series of saints flanking a central figure of Christ/the Virgin

10th-11th centuries: significant no. of records of the existence of altarpieces

• Experiments w/ various formats of the painted altarpiece

• Altar had evolved into a rectangular form

  • More defined front & back

    = paved the way for the appearance of the altarpiece behind it

• Positioning of the painted altarpiece changed —> on/behind the altar

  • Due to/Resulting in a change in the position assumed by the priest while celebrating mass ⭐

    • Until the 10th century, it was common for the celebrant to stand behind the altar, facing the congregation (= altarpiece would’ve been an obstruction)

    • Later, came to stand before the altar, w/ his back to the congregation

  • BUT we don’t know which change took place first, affecting the other

13th-14th centuries:

• The altarpiece became a permanent feature of the altar apparatus

  • The Christian image as an important element of church architecture in its own right

    • Sole purpose was to hold the image up to view

    • NO LONGER just serving as decoration of another sacred object

• Increased in scale

• Increased in height (more vertical)

  • Due to increase in scale of churches

    • Due to increase in congregation size

16th century:

• Sculpted altarpieces in Italy

By the 20th century:

• Altarpieces no longer relevant

• Design of churches espoused simplicity

  • Reinstated a single, free-standing altar as the focus of the church

• Priests returned to celebrating towards the congregation

  = return to early Christian ideals

Polyptych

• Multi-panelled altarpiece

• Gold-ground

• Visual hierarchy: Holier figures are painted bigger than normal people

• Evocative of sacred gothic architecture

  • The altar as a reliquary = the whole church as a space that encloses any number of sacred objects/bodies

Predella

• The smallest illustrations in the bottom-most row

• Function: to support the enlarged polyptych & ensure the entire altarpiece’s visibility

• Not typically visible to the congregation

  • BUT visible only to the priest

  • Often contained the most experimental, exciting parts of the polyptych

    • Narrative scenes reflecting saints above

    • On the sides: standing saints

      = who was the predella for?

Pala

• Outmoded the polyptych

• Still multi-panelled

• BUT painted as unified space

• Shift towards realistic backgrounds w/ 3-dimensional depth

  • NO more gold ground

  • New interest in natural setting & figural expression

    = almost like a window → invites viewers into a fictive extension of the church space; new dramatic force to narrative scenes

• Unlike in the polyptych, holier figures are NOT painted bigger than normal people

• Often still retained aspects of the polyptych

  • E.g. architectural features painted resembled arches of polyptych

  • E.g. same arrangement of virgin & child surrounded by standing saints (sacra conversazione)

Revamped to reflect Renaissance ideals ⭐

Apparition of the Crucifix in the Church of Sant’ Antonio di Castello (early 16th century), Vittore Carpaccio

Description

• From right → left: progression of early → late altarpieces

  • Right (early):

    • Polyptych

    • Gold-ground

    • Smaller, shorter

  • Left (late):

    • Pala

    • Single image

    • No more gold ground, more naturalistic 3-dimensional space

    • Elements of ancient architecture (e.g. pediment, corinthian columns)

    • Larger, taller

• High altar on the left, but hidden

  • Ciborium visible

• Floating boats below ceiling

  • People would offer one before/after a safe voyage

The Mass of Saint Giles (ca. 1500), Master of Saint Giles

Historical context

• Narrative

  • The king committed a sin he was so ashamed of, he couldn’t say it out loud

  • Asked the priest to conduct a mass of forgiveness for him

    • During which an angel appeared with a note of forgiveness

Analysis

• Reflects development in position of altar frontal

  • Gilded altar frontal has been moved above altar

  • Because the priest has moved → in front of the Altar

    = Altar frontal becomes a dramatic backdrop

• Engagement with altarpiece during religious rites

  • When the priest raises the eucharist, the body of christ (wafer) is physically aligned w/ the body of christ as represented on the altarpiece

• Curtains may have been pulled

  = heightens mystery surrounding the moment of transformation from the wafer to the body of christ

Martelli Annunciation (ca. 1440), Fra Filippo Lippi

Historical context

• ‘The first renaissance pala’

Analysis

• Extension of physical church space into the painting

  • E.g. the colour of the floor is the same as in the church

  • E.g. steps that lead up

  • E.g. column painted in the middle

    • As if it were a real architectural feature

  • E.g. glass vase in the foreground

    • Trompe o’leil (visual trick, as if it exists in the viewer’s plane)

    • Also metaphor for what the virgin is carrying (fragile like glass)

  • Creates a convincing 3-dimensional depth in the painting

    = looks like a window into a naturalistic scene