Winged altarpiece Winged altarpiece A winged altarpiece (also "folding altar") or winged retable is a special form of altarpiece (reredos, occasionally retable), common in Central Europe, in which the fixed shrine or "corpus" can be enclosed by two (triptych), four (pentaptych) or more (polyptych) movable wings. The technical terms are derived from : "trís" or "triple"; πέντε: "pénte" or "five"; πολύς: "polýs" or "many"; and πτυχή: "ptychē" or "fold, layer". Because the winged altar can display different scenes on weekdays, Sundays or holidays, based on the motifs and type of decoration (painted panels or reliefs), it is also called a liturgical altar.
Beaune Altarpiece different. The figures occupy distinctly separate niches and the colour schemes of the grisaille saints and donors contrast sharply. Like many mid-15th century polyptychs, the exterior panels borrow heavily from the "Ghent Altarpiece", which was completed in 1432. The combination of naturalistic donor portraits with grisaille imitation statues of saints is borrowed from that work, as is the treatment of the Annunciation. Van der Weyden used iconography in the Beaune exterior panels not found in his other works, which suggests Rolin may have commissioned the altarpiece to follow van Eyck's example. Van der Weyden was not inclined merely to imitate