THERE’S a painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, known as the Portinari Triptych. It’s a Nativity scene, commissioned from a Flemish artist called Hugo van der Goes in 1475. It was made for Tommaso Portinari, a Florentine who worked for the Medici bank in Bruges.
A triptych comes in three parts and the two outer sections can be folded over to protect the central part. When the Portinari side panels are closed, their backs display scenes that come together as the Annunciation. These are painted to represent sculptures—carved stone and wood were more commonly employed at that time for devotional work than
