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In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an
altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...
, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but often (especially in earlier examples), a
polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a "triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapty ...
or multipanel altarpiece. In late medieval and
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
altarpieces, where the main panel consisted of a scene with large figures, it was normal to include a predella below with a number of small-scale narrative paintings depicting events from the life of the dedicatee, whether the ''Life of Christ'', the ''
Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the nu ...
'' or a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
. Typically there would be three to five small scenes, in a horizontal format. Sometimes a single space shows different scenes in continuous representation. They are significant in
art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
, as the artist had more freedom from iconographic conventions than in the main panel as they could only be seen from close up. As the main panels themselves became larger and more dramatic, predellas fell from use around 1510-20 in the
High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...
, although older or more conservative painters continued to use them, for example
Luca Signorelli Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...
, by then in his 70s, in about 1521. In this case he is thought to have only done the
underdrawing Underdrawing is a preparatory drawing done on a painting ground before paint is applied, for example, an imprimatura or an underpainting. Underdrawing was used extensively by 15th century painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. These ...
for the main scene, leaving the painting to his workshop assistants. But he is thought to have painted the predella scenes himself. In Italy they are rare by the middle of the 16th century, but continued for a while further north. As altarpieces reached the art market from the 18th century onwards, the predella scenes (and other smaller sections) were often detached and sold separately, in effect as
cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or "cabinet picture") is a small painting, typically no larger than two feet (0.6 meters) in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a s ...
s, and they are now often spread across several museum collections, with their origin often uncertain. Reuniting, at least conceptually, predella panels with the rest of their original settings gave 20th-century art historians a large task, which continues into the 21st century. More generally, and not usually in the English language, a predella is an altar-step, a shelf above and behind an altar, or a piece of furniture with a lower part to kneel on, for prayer, and often a higher part to support the arms. In English the French term
prie-dieu A prie-dieu ( French: literally, "pray oGod") is a type of prayer desk primarily intended for private devotional use, but which may also be found in churches. A similar form of chair in domestic furniture is called "prie-dieu" by analogy. S ...
is normally used for this. ''Predel'' or ''pretel'', was
Langobardic Lombardic or Langobardic is an extinct West Germanic language that was spoken by the Lombards (), the Germanic people who settled in Italy in the sixth century. It was already declining by the seventh century because the invaders quickly adopted ...
for "a low wooden platform that serves as a basis in a piece of furniture". Similar small reliefs are sometimes placed under a larger piece of sculpture.
Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...
placed a narrow scene of ''
Saint George Freeing the Princess ''Saint George Freeing the Princess'' is a marble stiacciato bas-relief sculpture by Donatello, sculpted around 1416 or 1417. It was originally situated under the same artist's ''Saint George'' on an external niche of the church of Orsanmichele in ...
'' on the base of his ''Saint George'' for
Orsanmichele Orsanmichele (; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word ''orto'') is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michel ...
.


Examples

Examples of predellas include: *
Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ) was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Ducc ...
– the predella of his ''
Maestà Maestà , the Italian word for "majesty", designates a classification of images of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, the designation generally implying accompaniment by angels, saints, or both. The ''Maestà'' is an extension of the "Sea ...
'' – one of the earliest predellas. *
Lorenzo Monaco Lorenzo Monaco (1370 – 1425) was an Italian painter of the late Gothic to early Renaissance age. He was born Piero di Giovanni in Siena, Italy. Little is known about his youth, apart from the fact that he was apprenticed in Florence. He was inf ...
– ''Incidents in the Life of Saint Benedict'' (c. 1407–1409) *
Luca Signorelli Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...
– '' The Adoration of the Shepherds'' (c. 1496) *
Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...
– ''
San Zeno Altarpiece The ''San Zeno Altarpiece'' is a triptych by the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna, from c. 1457–1460. It is located in the Basilica di San Zeno, the main church of Verona. The three predellas, stripped by the French in 1797 al ...
'' (1459) *
Stanley Spencer Sir Stanley Spencer, CBE RA (30 June 1891 – 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if in Cookham, the small ...
Sandham Memorial Chapel Sandham Memorial Chapel is in the village of Burghclere, Hampshire, England. It is a Grade I listed, 1920s decorated chapel, designed by Lionel Godfrey Pearson. The chapel was built to accommodate a series of paintings by the English artist Stan ...
,
Burghclere Burghclere is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. According to the 2011 census the village had a population of 1,152. The village is near the border of Hampshire with Berkshire, four miles south of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury. It ...
, Hants. * Pre-Raphaelite
Dante Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
revisited the predella in his second
Beata Beatrix ''Beata Beatrix'' is a painting completed in several versions by Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The painting depicts Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri's 1294 poem ''La Vita Nuova'' at the moment of her death. The first versi ...
(1871-1872). *
Leigh Behnke Leigh Behnke (born 1946) is an American painter based in Manhattan in New York City, who is known for multi-panel, representational paintings that investigate perception, experience and interpretation.Smithsonian American Archives of Art"Don Eddy ...
– a 20th-century realist, she has made use of the predella format in numerous works (c. 1981–2019)


Notes


References

* Lucie-Smith, Edward, ''The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms'', 2003 (2nd edn), Thames & Hudson, World of Art series, *Osborne, Harold (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to Art'', 1970, OUP,


External links

* {{Authority control Altarpieces