Three parts of a predella

Giovanni del Biondo was one of the most prolific painters in late fourteenth-century Florence, producing numerous altarpieces for churches and religious confraternities across Tuscany. These predella panels — the small narrative scenes forming the base of a Gothic altarpiece — would have depicted episodes from the lives of saints relevant to the main panel above. Predella narratives were essential components of the Italian Gothic altarpiece, providing didactic storytelling to complement the iconic imagery of the main register.

Painted in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, these predella scenes demonstrate Giovanni del Biondo's compact narrative style with clearly articulated architectural settings and expressive figural groups. The small scale demanded precise brushwork and simplified compositions that conveyed complex hagiographic narratives in an immediately legible format.