Altarpiece unclear. Altarpieces can still broadly be divided into two types, the "reredos", which signifies a large and often complex wooden or stone altarpiece, and the "retable", an altarpiece with panels either painted or with reliefs. Retables are placed directly on the altar or on a surface behind it; a reredos typically rises from the floor. Retable-type altarpieces are often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. The panels can also display reliefs or sculpture in the round, either polychrome or un-painted. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for
Fano Altarpiece Fano Altarpiece The Fano Altarpiece is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, executed in 1497, and housed in the church of Santa Maria Nuova, Fano, central Italy. It also includes a lunette with a "Pietà" and several predella panels. Perugino had already painted an "Annunciation" in 1488-1490. Several scholars have supposed that a young Raphael collaborated on the predella. The Madonna is portrayed on a luminous landscape of hills, on a high throne; in front of her is a pedestal with, on it, a mystic vase, and featuring the signature and date, which were always added by