Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych paintings, which included another important van Eyck work, the 1434–1436 "Annunciation". They were purchased by Charles Henschel of New York art dealer M. Knoedler & Company for $185,000, significantly less than the asking price of $600,000 when the works were offered in 1931. The panels were shipped from Saint Petersburg to the Matthiesen Gallery in Berlin before M. Knoedler & Company sold them on to the Metropolitan in New York that year. Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych The Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych (or Diptych with Calvary and Last Judgement) consists of two small painted panels attributed to the Early
Altarpiece Reformation regarded the Word of God – that is, the gospel – as central to Christendom, and Protestant altarpieces often displayed the actual words from the bible, sometimes at the expense of pictures. With time, Protestant though gave birth to the so-called pulpit altar, or "Kanzelaltar" in German, in which the altarpiece and the pulpit are combined, thus making the altarpiece quite literally the abode of the Word of God. Canvas painting started to replace other types of altarpieces during the mid-16th century and onwards. The Middle Ages was the heyday of the production and use of altarpieces. While many