An illustrated book on the religious altarpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Written in 1898, these essays reveal how the altarpieces were not only beautiful creations but were also the product of developments in painting.

The altarpiece is one of the most distinctive and remarkable art forms of the Renaissance period. It is difficult to imagine an artist of the time--whether painter or sculptor, major or minor--who did not produce at least one. Though many have been displaced or dismembered, a substantial proportion of these works still survive. Despite the volume of material available, no serious attempt has ever been made to examine the whole subject in depth until now. The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece is the first comprehensive study of the genre to examine its content and subject matter in real detail, from the origins of the altarpiece in the 13th century to the time of Caravaggio in the early 1600s. It discusses major developments in the history of these objects throughout Italy, covers the three key categories of Renaissance altarpiece--"immagini" (icons), "historie" (narratives), and "misteri" (mysteries)--and is illustrated with 250 beautiful reproductions of the artworks.

The painting and carving of altarpieces was one of the most important and characteristic tasks of Italian Renaissance artists.

Christa Gardner von Teuffel's studies of Italian altarpieces have provided fundamental insights concerning the original structure and setting of some of the canonical monuments of Italian late medieval and Renaissance painting. Studies of panel type and frame architecture are combined with an investigation of original sites. Archival discoveries at Florence and Palermo have led to a new assessment of institutional patronage and private benefaction, and illuminated the formulation of altarpiece programmes, such as Perugino's Vallombrosan Assumption and Raphael's Lo Spasimo. These essays contribute enduringly to our understanding of contractual obligation, design process and altarpiece installation, and demonstrate the nexus between ecclesiastical and lay patrons, artists and congregations. The author's pioneering examination of Carmelite patronage and subsequent investigation of the iconographical impact of Benedictine and Franciscan reform movements have prompted others to re-assess the patronage of religious Orders in the Quattrocento. The pervasive iconographical influence of the Holy Land is traced through Sansepolcro, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme at Rome and as far as the astonishing View of Sinai by El Greco.

Frame Work explores how framing devices in the art of Renaissance Italy respond, and appeal, to viewers in their social, religious, and political context.

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) created altarpieces of startling beauty. Steven J. Cody analyzes those remarkable paintings as a means of illuminating the artist’s career-long engagement with Christian theology.