Restoring the Early Netherlandish altarpiece to the Church: The Function and Importance of Altarpieces in Church Practices

The Early Netherlandish altarpiece is all too often looked at from an aesthetic perspective, as a thing of beauty, hanging upon a museum wall. This is a notion that in no way can or should be disputed-however the flaw that is found here is the placement of a religious work in a secular environment. In a museum, we find an excessive amount of objectivity, that is to say a lacking of the highly religious perceptions to which the altarpiece was crafted to appeal. We must look at these works in the context of their intended homes in the Church in order to fully comprehend their intentions and functions, and thus garner a proper perspective from which to examine them. How were altarpieces used in the church? Why were they so prevalent during this time period? Aside from their aesthetic appeal, these altarpieces played a more influential role in the church environment. They actually served to facilitate church practices, particularly for the congregation. The prominent locale inherent to altarpieces permitted them an influential role in the mass that went far beyond that of a backdrop. 1 Therefore the artists' intentions to actively engage the average mass-goer are evident both implicitly and explicitly in the carved altarpiece. Such Early Netherlandish Altarpieces prevailed just moments prior to the Protestant Reformation. Despite the humanist movements of the Renaissance that seemed to secularize society, Catholicism prevailed, and perhaps was better