predella
Americannoun
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predelle
plural
noun
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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
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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
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
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
In the predella, which is full of charm, are three scenes in distemper—the Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple, her Marriage, and the Adoration of the Magi.
From Lives of the most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 06 (of 10) Fra Giocondo to Niccolo Soggi by Gaston du C. De Vere
Several saints from this predella still remain in the sacristy of S. Pietro; two are at Lyons.
From Walks in Rome by Augustus J. C. Hare
The two predelle must certainly have been painted within a very short time of one another.
From Luca Signorelli by Maud Cruttwell
The altar-pieces to which all this series of predelle belong are unknown.
From Luca Signorelli by Maud Cruttwell
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