predella
Americannoun
noun
-
a painting or sculpture or a series of small paintings or sculptures in a long narrow strip forming the lower edge of an altarpiece or the face of an altar step or platform
-
a platform in a church upon which the altar stands
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of predella
First recorded in 1840–50; from Italian, from unattested Langobardic predel, pretel, derivative of pret- “board,” from Germanic bret-, source of Old High German brët ( German Brett ), Old English, Old Saxon bred “board, plank”); conformed in Italian to the diminutive suffix -ella; see -elle, board
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Just as when this painting graced the altar of the Innocenti church, it is displayed above a predella, which shows a series of scenes.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2016
They added the predella fragments to it, and supplemented it with a selection of four smaller 14th-century altarpieces, intact or partial, from American collections.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2012
Aside from the central “Magi” panel, kept in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, only two fragments are known to have survived, both from the cut-up predella.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2012
The lunette represents "The Resurrection," the predella "The Birth of the Virgin," "The Presentation," "The Marriage," "The Annunciation," and "The Assumption."
From Great Masters in Painting: Perugino by Williamson, George C.
A predella representing the legend of St. Nicholas is by Francesco Pesellino, whose works are rare.
From The Story of Florence by Gardner, Edmund G.
The two predelle must certainly have been painted within a very short time of one another.
From Luca Signorelli by Cruttwell, Maud
The altar-pieces to which all this series of predelle belong are unknown.
From Luca Signorelli by Cruttwell, Maud
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
