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
Ildefonso Altarpiece was commissioned for the Brotherhood by his widow shortly after his death. Ildefonso Altarpiece The Ildefonso Altarpiece is a triptych painting by Peter Paul Rubens, dating to between 1630 and 1631. It is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna. It is named after the central panel, which shows Saint Ildefonsus's vision of the Virgin Mary, in which she gave him a "casula". On the side panels are Isabella Clara Eugenia and Albert VII, regents of the Spanish Netherlands, with their patron saints Albert and Elisabeth of Hungary. Albert had founded the Ildefonso Brotherhood in the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg