Predella of the Barbadori altarpiece

In 1811 the large altarpiece this belonged to was taken to Paris, and it never came back. You can still see it in the Louvre, the Virgin and Child among angels, standing between Saint Frediano and Saint Augustine. What stayed in Florence was the low strip of small scenes that once ran beneath it. Lippi painted the whole work around 1438 for a family chapel in the Florentine church of Santo Spirito. When the main panel left, this predella was simply left behind, and it only reached the Uffizi in 1919. Very few of Lippi's predellas survive together at all, which is part of why these three little scenes reward a close look. Made for the base of an altar, they were meant to be read at eye level while the great image rose above them.