Altar predella; Right panel: The parricide of St. Julian - The miracle of St. Nicholas of Bari

Two narrative scenes—the parricide of Saint Julian and a miracle of Saint Nicholas of Bari—occupy this predella panel from 1426, now at the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin. The panel formed part of the Pisa Altarpiece, Masaccio"s major commission for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa, whose components are now scattered across museums in Berlin, London, Naples, and Pisa. The predella"s small-scale narrative scenes allowed Masaccio to demonstrate his mastery of spatial construction and dramatic storytelling.

The predella format demands narrative clarity in a compressed horizontal space, and Masaccio organizes the scenes with architectural settings that create convincing spatial depth through linear perspective. The figures are rendered with the same volumetric solidity as his larger panels, their actions and expressions clearly legible despite the small scale. The palette is warm and naturalistic, with the architectural settings rendered in convincing perspective that demonstrates Masaccio"s command of the new science of spatial representation.