As well as being highly significant to the history of European art, the Altarpiece has quite a history of its own; one historian estimates that it has been the subject of 13 crimes and seven thefts. (Both Napoléon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler misappropriated it in their time.) This in turn has caused it to show up as a plot element in a couple of works of fiction. One panel, showing "The Just Judges", was stolen in 1934 and has never been recovered; the Altarpiece currently on display has a high-quality painted reproduction in that position.
The Altarpiece actually consists of multiple panels, showing various scenes and images of Christian religious significance. The panels can be closed up, making further images on their backs visible. The original outer framework was destroyed during The Protestant Reformation; it may actually have included clockwork mechanisms to open and close the panels. The technical accomplishment of the painting is stunning and marks the point where Medieval idealism gives way to Renaissance observation of nature. Nonetheless, the subject matter is loaded down with religious symbolism and references that keep art historians occupied in identifying meanings; in its time, it must have been considered quite Troperiffic.
Tropes Appearing in or Associated With the Altarpiece:
- Adaptational Modesty: Two panels show Adam and Eve nude (though covering their groins with their hands). These offended people so much in the 19th century that those panels were removed and replaced with duplicates on which the pair were clothed. The original panels have since been restored to their places. The clothed versions are on display elsewhere in the cathedral for historical interest.
- Beast with a Human Face: The most recent restoration of the Altarpiece has shown that the "Lamb of God" was painted with disturbingly human-like, forward-pointing eyes. It is meant to be a symbol of God, but the effect, at least for modern viewers, can be distinctly creepy.
- Cain and Abel: The trope namers appear on the back of one of the panels, with Cain attempting to murder his little brother.
- Chromatic Arrangement: God the Father (robed in red), St. John the Baptist (green), and the Virgin Mary (blue) are the central figures of the interior middle panel, making this trope demonstrably just Older Than Print.
- Inspirational Martyr: The lower central panel features groups of male and female Christian martyrs being persecuted for their beliefs but preaching their religion nonetheless.
- Our Angels Are Different: Two panels depict music-making angels — one group singing, the other playing instruments. Oddly, especially for the time, they appear quite human, with no obvious angelic features — they lack wings and are not idealised in appearance, though they are sexless. They are identified as angels by their position in the composition and by the inscriptions attached to them. (There are also some more conventionally winged angels in the lower central panel.)
- The Paladin: The figures in the "Knights of Christ" panel are clearly intended to represent the ideal warrior who fights for the Christian God.
