ALTARPIECE OF THE HOLY INFANT'S CHILDHOOD

TYPOLOGY 

Today, only three complete reliefs and a fragment of the altarpiece's original structure have been conserved. The larger pieces are horizontal in format, as was probably the fragment also, whereas that of the Presentation in the Temple is predominantly vertical. All are of a similar height.  

If, as it appears, the altarpiece was dedicated to the Holy Infant's Childhood, then the relief depicting the Birth of the Holy Infant would have stood at the centre of the same. In that case, it would have normally been somewhat larger than the remaining reliefs and would have been preferently vertical. However, it cannot be discarded that its original appearance was different. Unfortunately, we do not know what this might have been before the central body of the altarpiece was replaced. Neither - and this would have been most unusual - do we know whether it formed part of a structure in which none of the reliefs was taller than the others, or not.

On the other hand, the relief of the Presentation in the Temple which is almost half the width leads us to think that the altarpiece was probably made up of vertical and horizontal sections.