Polyptych Polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: "poly-" "many" and "ptychē" "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a "triptych" is a three-part work; a tetraptych or quadriptych has four parts; pentaptych five; hexaptych six; heptaptych (or septych in Latin) seven; and octaptych eight parts. Polyptychs typically display one "central" or "main" panel that is usually the largest of the attachments, while the other panels are called "side" panels, or "wings". Sometimes, as evident in the Ghent and Isenheim works, the hinged panels can be
San Marco Altarpiece of cast shadows towards the bottom edges of the draperies in the painting, which are indicative of how Angelico gave the medieval equation of earthly and heavenly beauty new immediacy by translating it into the rational language of a representational style. In addition, as Angelico implies in other ways, glazing was a technique used to create yet another boundary between the real world and the pictorial illusion. San Marco Altarpiece The San Marco Altarpiece (also known as "Madonna and Saints") is a painting by the Italian early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico, housed in the San Marco Museum of Florence, Italy.