ALTARPIECE OF THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN AND THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST

TYPOLOGY 

The altarpiece of the Virgen of Telde has three sections with two compartments each, all of them in a vertical format, but of greater height in the central section. Two composite [MK1] pillars with figurines between sills and baldachins separate the sections. The scenes are framed by concave jambs against which the characters in the foreground are arranged, protected beneath canopies; in the central section these, in their turn, serve as supports for the secondary characters.

The altarpiece is finished with a curved cornice, similar to those commonly found in various altarpieces from Antwerp dated around 1530-1540, such as those of Enghien, Herbais-sous-Pietrain, Oplinter, Baume-les-Messieurs, Oppiter, Schoonbroek, etc., although Telde is only decorated with mouldings and lacks the small ledge in the form of an ogee arch that connects the end of the central section with those of the lateral sections. This is present in nearly all of those works, except in the ones by Roermond and Ringsaker. The altarpiece was originally closed with painted shutters, which today are missing.