Crucifixion Diptych (van der Weyden) The painting's provenance prior to the mid-19th century is unknown. Its extreme starkness has led art historians to theorize that it was created as a devotional work, possibly for a Carthusian monastery. It is not known if the panels comprised a self-contained diptych, two-thirds of a triptych, or originally were a single panel. Some art historians have mentioned that the work seems unbalanced overall and lacking symmetry (which might indicate a missing panel or panels). Recent scholarship proposes that the panels functioned as the outer shutters of a carved altarpiece. The background to the panels is unknown. Scholars have theorized
Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece The Taubischofsheim altarpiece (earlier known as the Karlsruhe altarpiece or Karlsruhe panels; German: Taubischofsheimer Altar, Karlsruher Altar, and Karlsruher Tafeln, respectively) is a late work by the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, probably completed between 1523 and 1525. The earliest written references to the work come from the 18th century, when the altarpiece was still in the Church of St. Martin in Tauberbischofsheim. Its original location and the identity of the patron who commissioned it are not known, but it is assumed that they both were in Tauberbischofsheim. The panels, which today are displayed separately, were originally painted