Diptych triptych form, with two outer panels that could be closed across the main central representation. They are one type of the multi-panel forms of painting known as "polyptychs". The diptych was a common format in Early Netherlandish painting and depicted subjects ranging from secular portraiture to religious personages and stories. Often a portrait and a Madonna and Child had a leaf each. It was especially popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. Painters such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes used the form. Some modern artists have used the term in
Bladelin Altarpiece Bladelin to be accompanied by his wife, Margerite van de Vageviere, leading to some doubt about the identity of the donor. The castle depicted in the middle panel is thought to that in Middelburg. The painting has been in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, since 1834. Bladelin Altarpiece The Bladelin Altarpiece, or Middelburg Altarpiece, is a triptych painting created around 1450 by the Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden, towards the end of his artistic career. The work depicts scenes relating to the birth of Jesus; it is the only nativity scene definitively attributed to van der Wayden, and