Central Italian “Tabernacula”: A Survey

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an in-depth survey of grand-scale medieval italian tabernacles and other types of closing altarpieces with all of their wings-or substantial parts thereof-still preserved (1200-1435). Most such altarpieces, enclosing a statue of the Virgin Mary or a saint, come from the culturally homogeneous and generally conservative regions of the central apennines, in particular from abruzzo. structure, provenance, original location, function, patronage, iconography are only a few of the many questions raised by the surviving examples here discussed within a broader European frame. notwithstanding the great variety and composite character of medieval altar furnishings, three major types of medieval italian closing retables will be here described-according to claude lapaire's formal classification (1969 and 1972): the tabernacle-altarpiece in the strict sense of the word, i.e. an open ciborium with the pedestal, rear wall, and canopy, equipped with carved or painted bi-fold wings; the polygonal tabernacle-altarpiece ('le retable à tabernacle polygonal'); and the cupboard-altarpiece ('le retable en forme d'armoire'). in central apennine regions all of these types coexisted throughout the fourteenth century at least, resisting the spread of tuscan polyptychs.