Many of the early works in the paintings collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum are altarpieces and fragments of altarpieces made for Italian churches. They were placed above altars and served as the focal point of the Mass. Churches in the 1300s were often architecturally plain, sparsely decorated, and quite dark. Gold-leafed altarpieces provided bursts of color and embellishment, and the candle light that typically illuminated the churches made the gold shimmer.