Török Gyöngyi: Gothic Panel Paintings and Wood Carvings in Hungary, Permanent exhibition of the Hungarian National Gallery (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2005/3)

First Floor - Throne-room

rallied the wood carvers: wood carvings were also usually painted. Similarly to panel painters, sculpture painters also started by priming the figure thoroughly with chalk before painting and gilding. In the latter half of the 15th century, it was customary that the person or body who had commissioned the altar wished to see the preliminary design of the entire altarpiece. The design (Riss, Visierung) was mostly drawn by the painter. The contractor was obliged to adhere exactly to the program determined by the secular or clerical client and laid down in the contract and the design drawing. A winged altarpiece is a structure placed on a mensa or altartable. It consists of a fixed centrepiece, itself composed of the supporting praedella and the altar shrine above it, with one or two pairs of wings hinged to it. The shrine opens and closes with the wings. This variable form of the altar was easily adaptable to the changing feast-days of the church. Most of the year the altars were closed, so only on church 30. Altarpiece of the Virgin Mary from the church of St Andrew in Liptós/enlandrás. c.1480