Early Netherlandish carved altarpieces, 1380-1550

by Lynn F. Jacobs

Between about 1380 and 1550, carved wooden altarpieces became a major art industry in the South Netherlands. Richly gilded and lavishly polychromed, these works consist of a sculpted center and painted wings, usually showing narrative cycles of the lives of Christ and Mary. This is the first full-scale study of these works. It examines the late medieval aesthetic and religious tastes that these altarpieces were designed to satisfy, and the proto-modern methods used to mass market these works.