Predella

[2] They are significant in art history, as the artist had more freedom from iconographic conventions than in the main panel as they could only be seen from close up.

As the main panels themselves became larger and more dramatic, predellas fell from use around 1510-20 in the High Renaissance, although older or more conservative painters continued to use them, for example Luca Signorelli, by then in his 70s, in about 1521.

As altarpieces reached the art market from the 18th century onwards, the predella scenes (and other smaller sections) were often detached and sold separately, in effect as cabinet paintings, and they are now often spread across several museum collections, with their origin often uncertain.

Reuniting, at least conceptually, predella panels with the rest of their original settings gave 20th-century art historians a large task, which continues into the 21st century.

Predel or pretel, was Langobardic for "a low wooden platform that serves as a basis in a piece of furniture".