Mérode Altarpiece

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The Merode Altarpiece (the left and center panels)

Robert Campin, 1425–1428

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

This page is about the Mérode Altarpiece. For the Brussels metro station, see Mérode station.

The Mérode Altarpiece is a 3-panel piece by Renaissance painter Robert Campin. It was created between 1425 and 1428.

The piece is a triptych, or a three part panel. It was commissioned for private use, and portraits of the donors appear in the far left panel. The work is full of iconography, or hidden symbolism. For example Mary sits on the floor to show her humility, and the folds of her dress, and the way the light plays on them create a star. This reminds the viewer of the gloriousness of the occasion. A scroll and book also appear in front of her, symbolizing the Old & New Testaments, and the part that Mary and the Christ child played in the fulfillment of prophecy. In the right panel (not included in photograph), a man Joseph is constructing a mouse trap symbolizing Christ's trapping and defeat of the devil.

The work is currently on display at The Cloisters, a department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.