Opening Heemskerck's "Ecce Homo" Altarpiece

One of the treasures of the National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), Poland, Heemskerck's "Ecce Homo" altarpiece is a three-part panel painting with a central scene flanked by two hinged wings that fold shut. The interior scenes were only visible on important liturgical feast days, when the altarpiece was opened, doubling in size and magnificence.

The tryptich was conserved and extensively studied by a team of curators, conservators, and scientists at the Getty Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute in 2011-12.

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[Michael Jackson]

I don't want to disappoint my former art professor so let me see if I remember this correctly. These types of paintings are called "altarpiece". They were commonly used in hospitals that in those days were more like hospices with the horrible medicine. These are symbolic. One painting I remember showed Christ suffering on the outside & Christ rising to heaven on the inside. That was symbolic of the suffering that the patients felt & the peace that would follow as they would soon rise to heaven!

[Lalune350z]

So serious...