altarpiece

plural altarpieces

1. a work of art suspended above and behind an altar in a church

   I walked across the concrete to examine the altarpiece of the atomic age. A large crack ran through it.

   2008 December 15, David Samuels, “Atomic John: A truck driver uncovers secrets about the first nuclear bombs”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 12 Mar 2015

   1 more example

   “It’s this snaggletoothed, little bird-footed homunculus caricature,” Bourneuf said. “Many artists at this time were trying to make new altarpieces. Klee tended to take a very skeptical distance from the sort of grandiose projects of many of his expressionist peers, so I think it’s actually kind of mocking those hopes.”

   2025 May 7, Nina Siegal, “A Rarely Seen Angel With a Lesson From History”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 May 2025