Beaune Altarpiece Beaune Altarpiece The Beaune Altarpiece (c. 1445–50), often called The Last Judgement, is a large polyptych altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden. It was painted in oil on oak panels, with parts later transferred to canvas. It consists of fifteen paintings on nine panels; six are painted on both sides. It retains some of its original frames. Six outer panels (or shutters) are hinged; when folded they show an exterior view of saints and the donors. The inner panels contain scenes from the Last Judgement arranged across two registers. The large central panel that spans both
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