Henri Bellechose - Saint Denis Altarpiece- The Last Communion and Martyrdom of Saint Denis

• Title: Saint Denis Altarpiece- The Last Communion and Martyrdom of Saint Denis (Le Retable de Saint Denis)
• Artist: Henri Bellechose (1415-1445)
• Date: 1416
• Medium: Tempera and gold on wood panel
• Dimensions: 162 x 211 cm

“Saint Denis Altarpiece- The Last Communion and Martyrdom” reads from left to right when facing it. The painting shows the imprisonment and communion and then death by decapitation of Denis of Paris who was a bishop of Paris in the third century. The popular story claims that, after he was decapitated, the bishop picked up his head and walked while preaching.

This altarpiece is partly a throw-back in the past- the golden flat background; the multiple steps of a story in a single frame (persecution, last communion, beheading of St Denis); the inconsistent attempt at perspective.

Yet the International gothic style brigs novelty: with the choice of a theme local to Paris, the greater number of characters in the scene who interact in a natural way, the faces which are quite realistic and expressive.