altarpiece

American  

[awl-ter-pees] / ˈɔl tərˌpis /

noun

1. a painted or carved screen behind or above the altar or communion table in Christian churches; reredos.

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altarpiece British  

/ ˈɔːltəˌpiːs /

noun

1. a work of art set above and behind an altar; a reredos

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Etymology

Origin of altarpiece

First recorded in 1635–45; altar + piece

Example Sentences

This altarpiece marks the Italian artist coming into his own at the end of the Renaissance, its vision of Christ after his crucifixion rendered in an expressive, enigmatic style.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

The nature of optics, or how the eye sees as light’s conduit, is the focus of an altarpiece fragment by Giotto from the San Diego Museum of Art.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2024

Augustinian hermits in della Francesca’s native Borgo San Sepolcro commissioned the altarpiece in 1454, and it hung in its original church for less than 100 years.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 19, 2024

They found the faces were identical to those in a Raphael altarpiece.

From BBC • Jan. 24, 2023

If this were the sort of story that believed in eerie coincidences, we might say that the birth of Lisa Gherardini distracts Leonardo from his altarpiece.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day