Why Is There a Screen Behind the Altar? To Give the Eye Somewhere to Go

An altar is a table and on its own does not command a large space, so a structure rising behind it supplies the visual weight that the building's focal point requires. The screen fills the wall behind the altar and can be anything from a painted panel to a carved and gilded wall of figures rising to the vault. Its function is to direct the eye, to frame the altar, and to carry imagery relevant to the dedication of the church or the altar, so a visitor can frequently identify who a church is dedicated to by reading what is depicted on it.

The range across periods and regions is wide:

• •A painted panel or a set of hinged painted panels
• •Carved stone with niches holding statues
• •Carved and gilded wood, sometimes to enormous height
• •A hanging textile, which is the oldest form and the least likely to survive
• •A tiled or mosaic panel
• •In some traditions, an arrangement of doors and tiers with its own rules

English examples suffered more than most and the sequence is worth following. Reformation policy from the 1530s onwards removed images from churches, and statues were smashed, niches emptied and painted panels whitewashed or burnt, with the process renewed under Edward and again under the Commonwealth in the 1640s. What survives is therefore frequently the stone framework with every figure gone, which is why so many English churches show ranks of empty niches. A small number of painted panels survive because they were turned to face the wall or built into something else. Victorian restoration then filled many of those niches with new figures, which is why a medieval frame frequently holds nineteenth century statues.

Several structures around an altar are distinguished by position and the vocabulary is worth having. A frontal is a decorated panel or hanging on the front of the altar itself, facing the congregation, and is frequently textile and changed with the season. A canopy or baldachin stands over the altar on columns, sheltering it from above. A screen dividing the chancel from the nave stands well in front of the altar and serves quite a different purpose, controlling access and sightlines rather than framing anything. And a tabernacle is a locked receptacle rather than a decorative structure, though it is frequently incorporated into the centre of the assembly.

The imagery follows conventions that make these objects legible once known. The central position carries the most important subject, usually the crucifixion, the Virgin and child, or the saint to whom the altar is dedicated. Flanking positions carry saints associated with the church, the donor, the town or the trade guild that paid for it, which is why local saints appear in local churches. Donors themselves are frequently shown kneeling at the edges, smaller than the holy figures, which records who paid. Heraldry in the frame identifies families. And the sequence of scenes in a multi-panel example generally reads left to right in registers, like a page.

A structure rising behind an altar supplies the visual weight a table cannot and carries imagery identifying what the altar is dedicated to. English examples lost their figures in successive waves of image removal from the 1530s, which is why so many churches show empty niches, frequently refilled with Victorian statues. Donors appear kneeling at the edges, smaller than the holy figures.