What is a predella?

A predella is the low, elongated base of an altarpiece (retable): the horizontal band between the altar table and the main panel. That band is almost always decorated in its own right — with small painted scenes, carved reliefs or figures in niches.

The word is Italian and originally means footstool or step. That explains the second meaning at once: in church usage, the raised platform or step on which the altar stands is also called a predella.

The parts of an altarpiece

From bottom to top, a classic retable consists of:

1. Altar table (mensa) — the stone or timber slab
2. Predella — the low plinth band with small scenes
3. Main panel or corpus — the large central section, often with hinged wings
4. Cresting — pinnacles, carved tracery or a pediment

Application

Iconography

The predella normally tells a subsidiary story alongside the main image: scenes from the life of the saint depicted above, or episodes from the Passion. Because the band sits at the eye level of a kneeling worshipper, it was deliberately used for detailed, narrative scenes.

Structurally

Structurally, the predella is the transition between the stone mass of the altar block and the far lighter timber structure above. It absorbs dimensional differences and gives the retable a stable foot.

Conservation points

• Predellas are particularly exposed to rising damp and to physical damage because of their low position
• Predella panels have often been detached and sold separately over the centuries; many museum collections contain single predella panels
• It is frequently the predella that yields the date and the patron, because coats of arms and inscriptions were placed there

Do not confuse: predella (an altarpiece element) is a wholly different thing from predal — the Belgian term for the precast plank of a lattice girder floor.

Related terms

• Altar
• Altar rail
• Moulding
• Gothic
• Transept

Want to learn more about construction terms? Visit our knowledge base at fredsdiyplans.com.