Polyptych

When the altarpieces later came out of use, for a variety of reasons, they were often broken up and individual panels dispersed into the art trade, to be treated as easel paintings.

In medieval history, a different sense of the word is the polyptych meaning a document detailing the lands that a noble owned.

Whilst the precise origins of polyptychal art is uncertain, the earliest examples have been described as coming from Italy in the early 14th century.

The development of Church art in the 13th century saw a fusing of the Byzantine iconostasis with the Gothic architectural style.

By the Renaissance, both large altarpiece polyptychs and smaller domestic ones were falling out of fashion, partly because artists preferred to paint single scenes with a unified background, but Rubens still painted some very large winged altarpieces in the early 17th century, such as his Descent from the Cross triptych, of 1612–1614, in Antwerp Cathedral, which also has his Raising of the Cross and Resurrection triptychs, of similar date.