page_title: Poor Man's Bible
section_title: Panel painting
hierarchical_section_title: Poor Man's Bible / Typologies / Panel painting
context_page_description: The term Poor Man's Bible has come into use in modern times to describe works of art within churches and cathedrals which either individually or collectively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form of carvings, paintings, mosaics or stained-glass windows. In some churches a single artwork, such as a stained-glass window has the role of Poor Man's Bible while in others, the entire church is decorated with a complex biblical narrative that unites in a single scheme.
context_section_description: Panel paintings are those done on specially prepared wooden surfaces. Before the technique of oil painting was introduced by the Dutch masters of the 15th century, panel paintings was done using tempera, in which powdered colour was mixed with egg yolk. It was applied on a white ground, the colours being built up in layers, with tiny brushstrokes, the details often finished with gold leaf. 
  With the invention of oil painting and its introduction to Italy and other countries of Europe, it became easier to create large works of art.
  In the 1st century a similar technique was employed in Egypt to paint funerary portraits. Many of these remain in excellent condition. Tempera panels were a common art form in the Byzantine world and are the preferred method for creating icons. Because the method was very meticulous, tempera paintings are often small, and were frequently grouped into a single unit with hinged sections, known as a diptych, triptych or polyptych, depending on its number of parts. Some large altarpiece paintings exist, particularly in Italy where, in the 13th century, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Cimabue and Giotto created the three magnificent Madonnas that now hang in the Uffizi Gallery, but were once housed in the churches of Florence.
  With the development of oil painting, oil on panel began to replace tempera as a favoured method of enhancing a church. The oil paint lent itself to a richer and deeper quality of colour than tempera, and permitted the painting of textures in ways that were highly realistic.
caption: Crucifixion of St. Peter, Caravaggio, 1601, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome
exif: {}