PREDELLA

PREDELLA. – In wood and marble, this is the panel or marble slab in the form of a very elongated rectangle, often divided into various compartments, which forms the base of a polyptych. The predella generally depicts events relating to the images and figures represented in the polyptych. The predella may, however, also be found in paintings consisting of a single unit, especially when this is a large altarpiece, that is, an altarpiece “pala.”

Emilio Lavagnino