Besides shrines that can be closed with wings, there were also wingless, so-called ‘dossal altars’, that cannot be closed. The dossal, i.e., back panel, can nevertheless be understood as a motif that exalts the figure and distinguishes it in the church interior. The dossal altarpiece from Austevoll shows the holy King Olav, medieval Norway’s most popular saint, after the Virgin Mary.

Northern Germany (?), 1425–1450
From Austevoll (Sunnhordland)
Inv. no. MA 284