Predella: The Base Panel of an Altarpiece and Its Hidden Narratives

The predella of Duccio's Maesta, painted for the high altar of Siena Cathedral in 1311, is scattered across at least five museums on two continents. Three panels are in the National Gallery in London. One is in the Frick Collection in New York. One is in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. The rest remain in Siena's Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Reassembling them has been a project of art historians for over a century, and the work continues. This is the fate of most predelle: separated from their altarpieces, cut apart, sold individually, and dispersed into collections worldwide. The predella is the most fragmentary part of the most fragmentary art form in Western painting.

A predella is the lowest section of an altarpiece, a narrow horizontal strip or platform running along the base, below the main panel. The word comes from Italian, meaning "platform" or "step." Predelle are typically painted with small-scale narrative scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, usually three to five scenes arranged in a horizontal sequence. The predella served both a structural function, providing a base for the larger panels above, and a narrative function, telling stories that the main panel could only hint at. Predelle were standard in Italian altarpieces from the early 14th century through the early 16th century, when they fell out of use as altarpiece design shifted toward unified single-panel compositions.

This entry covers what a predella is, how it functioned within the altarpiece, who painted the most significant ones, and why predelle matter to art history even when they survive only as fragments.

What Is a Predella and How Does It Work?

The predella is the narrative engine of the altarpiece. While the main panel above typically shows a single, static image, a Madonna and Child enthroned, a saint in glory, a Crucifixion, the predella below runs a sequence of small paintings that tell a story. The scale is different: predella panels are often 30 to 50 centimeters high, compared to the main panel which can be several meters. The viewer has to lean down or kneel to see the predella clearly, which means the paintings were designed for close inspection rather than distant viewing.

This physical arrangement gave the artist more freedom. The main panel was governed by strict iconographic conventions. The Virgin had to be enthroned. The saints had to carry their attributes. The composition had to be symmetrical. The predella, by contrast, could show narrative scenes with movement, landscape, architecture, and everyday detail that would have been inappropriate in the main panel. Art historians have noted that predelle often contain the most inventive and observational painting in an altarpiece, precisely because the artist was working outside the rigid conventions of the central image.

The National Gallery in London provides a detailed anatomy of the altarpiece on its website, explaining how the predella relates to the main panel, pilaster bases, and other structural elements. Read the full guide at National Gallery.

Origins and History

The predella emerged in the early 14th century as Italian altarpieces became larger and more complex. Duccio's Maesta (1311, Siena Cathedral) is one of the earliest surviving examples. The Maesta was a double-sided altarpiece with a predella on both the front and back. The front predella showed scenes from the Infancy of Christ. The back predella showed scenes from Christ's ministry. The predella was shaped like a rectangular box, providing structural support for the large double-sided picture above.

Through the 14th and 15th centuries, the predella became a standard feature of Italian polyptychs and triptychs. Sienese painters like Simone Martini and Lorenzetti brothers used predelle extensively. Florentine painters followed. By the mid-15th century, artists like Fra Angelico, Domenico Veneziano, and Benozzo Gozzoli were painting predelle with increasingly sophisticated narratives and spatial settings.

The predella fell from use around 1510 to 1520, during the High Renaissance. As altarpiece design shifted toward the unified pala, a single large panel with a unified composition, the narrow narrative strip at the base became structurally and aesthetically redundant. Older or more conservative painters continued to use it. Luca Signorelli, in his 70s around 1521, painted a predella for an altarpiece where he is thought to have left the main scene to workshop assistants while painting the predella scenes himself. The National Gallery holds Carlo Crivelli's predella of La Madonna della Rondine (after 1490), which came from a large altarpiece painted for the Ottoni family chapel in Matelica. Read about it at National Gallery.

From the 18th century onward, as altarpieces left churches and entered the art market, predelle were frequently detached and sold as independent cabinet paintings. Panels with paintings on both sides were sometimes sawn apart to create two salable works. Reconstructing the original configuration of dispersed predelle has been a major task of art historical research since the 19th century, and it continues today.

Key Artists and Paintings

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1319)

Duccio's Maesta (1311) contains one of the earliest and most significant predelle. The front predella showed scenes from the Infancy of Christ, alternating with prophets carrying inscriptions. The back predella contained approximately nine scenes from Christ's ministry, including the Temptation on the Temple, the Temptation on the Mountain (Frick Collection), the Calling of Peter and Andrew (National Gallery of Art, Washington), and the Transfiguration (National Gallery, London). The dispersal of these panels across multiple collections illustrates the fragmentary survival that characterizes most predelle.

Lorenzo Monaco (c. 1370-1425)

Lorenzo Monaco's Incidents in the Life of Saint Benedict (c. 1407-1409) is a predella from a larger altarpiece painted for the Camaldolese Order. Monaco, himself a Camaldolese monk, painted the narrative scenes with a delicacy and spatial awareness that pushed beyond the conventions of late Gothic painting. The predella shows episodes from the life of Saint Benedict in a sequence of small, vivid scenes.

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)

Mantegna's San Zeno Altarpiece (1459, Basilica di San Zeno, Verona) is a triptych with a predella showing scenes from the Passion of Christ. The predella panels are notable for their aggressive perspective and archaeological detail, typical of Mantegna's style. The Crucifixion panel from this predella is now in the Louvre, having been cut from the altarpiece during Napoleonic confiscation. The remaining predella panels are still in Verona, making this an example of partial dispersal rather than complete fragmentation.

Luca Signorelli (c. 1445-1523)

Signorelli's Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1496) includes a predella that is notable for being painted at the very end of the predella tradition. Signorelli, by then in his 70s, is thought to have painted the predella scenes himself while leaving the main panel to workshop assistants. The predella scenes show a freedom and energy that the more conventional main panel lacks, a pattern that recurs in late predelle where the artist's personal touch is concentrated in the smaller scenes.

Carlo Crivelli (c. 1430-1495)

Crivelli's predella for La Madonna della Rondine (after 1490, National Gallery, London) shows the narrative capabilities of the form at its peak. The predella contains scenes of the Nativity, Saint Jerome in the desert, and the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Crivelli's predella is distinctive for its sharp perspective, decorative detail, and the way the architectural settings within the small panels create a sense of depth that competes with the larger main panel above.

How to Spot a Predella in a Museum

If you are looking at an Italian altarpiece from the 14th or 15th century, check the base. If there is a narrow horizontal strip of small paintings running along the bottom, that is the predella. The scenes will be smaller in scale than the main figures above, and they will typically show narrative episodes rather than a single iconic image.

More often, you will see predella panels displayed as independent paintings. Many museums have predella fragments in their collections without the altarpiece they once belonged to. The National Gallery in London holds several predella panels from Duccio's Maesta. The Frick Collection in New York has the Temptation on the Mountain from the same predella. If you see a small, horizontal Italian painting from the 14th or 15th century depicting a narrative scene, check whether it was originally part of a predella. Museum labels often note the original context.

The panel paintings used for predelle were typically made on poplar wood in Italy, using tempera rather than oil. The small scale of predella scenes allowed for finer detail than the main panel, and some art historians argue that the predella was where painters experimented with spatial composition and narrative techniques that would later appear in larger works.

Related Terms and the Altarpiece Ecosystem

The predella is one component of a larger altarpiece structure. A polyptych is a multi-panel altarpiece that typically includes a predella at its base. A triptych is a three-panel altarpiece that may also include a predella. The grisaille technique was sometimes used on predella panels, particularly on the exterior of closed altarpieces where the predella showed monochrome figures matching the grisaille of the main panels above.

The Early Renaissance period in Italy was the golden age of the predella. The Gothic art tradition that preceded it established the basic altarpiece structure, but the predella as a narrative strip reached its fullest development in the 14th and 15th centuries. By the High Renaissance, the predella was disappearing as altarpiece design moved toward unified compositions.

For more context, read our blog post on Renaissance art and the birth of modern art, or explore our guide to how to read a painting to learn how to analyze altarpiece compositions in museums.

See Predelle in Person

The National Gallery in London is the best single museum for seeing predella panels. It holds three panels from Duccio's Maesta, Crivelli's predella of La Madonna della Rondine, and numerous other predella fragments displayed alongside their surviving altarpiece panels. The National Gallery's catalogue entries for the Duccio predella panels, available online, trace the complex reconstruction of the Maesta's original configuration.

The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena holds the largest remaining portion of Duccio's Maesta, including most of the main panel and several predella scenes. The Frick Collection in New York has the Temptation on the Mountain from the Maesta predella. The Louvre holds the Crucifixion from Mantegna's San Zeno predella. For more on the broader context of Renaissance altarpieces, read our entries on polyptych and triptych, or explore our post on understanding iconography in religious art.