A predella is the platform or step on which an altar stands (*predel or *pretel, Langobardic for "a low wooden platform that serves as a basis in a piece of furniture"). In painting, the predella is the painting or sculpture along the frame at the bottom of a polyptych or multipanel altarpiece. In later Christian medieval and Renaissance altarpieces, where the main panel consisted of a scene with large static figures, it was normal to include a predella below with a number of small-scale narrative paintings depicting events from the life of the dedicatee, whether the Life of Christ, the Life of the Virgin or a saint.