Altarpiece two, three, and multiple panels respectively. In the thirteenth century each panel was usually surmounted with a pinnacle, but during the Renaissance, single panel, or "pala", altarpieces became the norm. In both cases the supporting plinth, or "predella" often featured supplementary and related paintings. If the altar stands free in the choir, both sides of the altarpiece can be covered with painting. The screen, retable or reredos are commonly decorated. Groups of statuary can also be placed "on" an altar. A single church can furthermore house several altarpieces on side-altars in chapels. Sometimes the altarpiece is set on the altar
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.