Predella with Annunciation and Scenes from the Lives of Four Saints
1 of 6
Object Label
This predella depicts defining events in the lives of the Madonna and Saints John the Baptist, Lawrence, Stephen, and Anthony of Padua, all represented on the main panel of an altarpiece now in a Roman private collection. Decorated pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals divide the predella into clearly defined scenes of martyrdom and wonder, while a verdant, mountainous landscape in the distance provides a rhythmic continuity of peaks and valleys that draws the eye across the panel’s individual narratives.
Traditionally the devotional focus of an altarpiece, the Virgin receives the widest section at the center of the predella with a depiction of the Annunciation, the moment when Mary’s destiny to bear the Christ Child is revealed to her by the Archangel Gabriel. Nicola places the four remaining scenes on either side of the Annunciation—just as the saints would appear on either side of the Madonna in the main panel. Significantly larger in scale and adorned with halos, the saints are clearly distinguished from the other figures in their respective scenes.
Caption
Nicola di Maestro Antonio d'Ancona Italian, Marchigian School, documented 1472–1511. Predella with Annunciation and Scenes from the Lives of Four Saints, ca. 1475–1480. Tempera on panel, image: 6 1/4 × 72 3/4 in. (15.9 × 184.8 cm) frame: 9 1/2 × 75 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (24.1 × 192.4 × 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank L. Babbott, Jr. in memory of their father Frank L. Babbott, 34.844. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.844_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Predella with Annunciation and Scenes from the Lives of Four Saints
Date
ca. 1475–1480
Geography
Place made: Italy
Medium
Tempera on panel
Classification
Dimensions
image: 6 1/4 × 72 3/4 in. (15.9 × 184.8 cm) frame: 9 1/2 × 75 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (24.1 × 192.4 × 3.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank L. Babbott, Jr. in memory of their father Frank L. Babbott
Accession Number
34.844
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
What is the meaning of the decapitation and the incineration? And who are the victims?
These are depictions of the martyrdom of saints who served as role models for the faithful in Christianity.The scenes depict two different saints: The man being burned is St. Lawrence, a 3rd century Roman deacon who was burned alive for distributing the Church's riches among the poor and claiming them as its true treasure. (You can see another altar piece to your left with more depictions of his life and death by a different artist.)The man being decapitated is St. John the Baptist, who baptized Christ and was beheaded because he insulted Herodias, queen of Judea. Her daughter Salome offered to dance before King Herod in exchange for the head of St. John, according to the gospel of St. Mark.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at