The three scenes depicting the life of Saint Francis are from the lower section of an altarpiece, referred to as a predella. They were painted in around 1429 by Fra Angelico for a confraternity that convened in the convent of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence. In the special exhibition Fra Angelico taking place at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from September 2025, the three scenes from the predella, which are currently held in the collection of Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie, will be united with the other surviving elements of the altarpiece for the very first time. In order to prepare the artworks in question to be loaned to the Italian museum, it was first necessary to undertake a series of conservation measures. Recent analyses of the three panel paintings have provided valuable new insights into the art-technological composition of the altarpiece and resolved questions pertaining to its original form.
The predella, which originally consisted of one single narrow wooden board, was sawn apart at an undetermined point in the past, thereby separating each of the individual scenes: in addition to the three scenes that are housed in Berlin, there are two further panels, which are currently held in the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg and the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome. The associated altarpiece with central panel and side wings is currently being held in the Museo di San Marco in Florence, where it is undergoing processes of analysis and restoration conducted in collaboration with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. Recent research initiatives have managed to resolve a number of previously unanswered questions, such as those pertaining to the original composition of the painted scenes and to lost decorative elements.
The conservators at the Gemäldegalerie examined the three predella panels (cat. nos. 61, 61A, 62) using X-rays, infrared reflectography, UV fluorescence analysis and a stereomicroscope. By examining the wooden panels and comparing them with one another, it was possible to gain a number of new art-technological insights into the technique used to produce the wooden panel, Fra Angelico’s painting technique, as well as later alterations to and reworkings of the panel paintings. The infrared reflectography revealed the painting’s underdrawing on the primed predella. This technique enabled researchers to detect that an earlier alteration had been made to the painting Apparition of Saint Francis in Arles. There are plans to release the results of the art-technological investigation in a comprehensive publication.
Each of the three wooden panels was not only sawn out from the original, larger predella, but was also planed on the reverse side at some point in the past, thereby reducing each piece to a thickness of between 8 and 12 mm. This increased the paintings’ sensitivity to climatic fluctuations and ultimately led, among other things, to a slight contraction of the wooden supports on the surviving panels, which in turn resulted in minor slackening in parts of the painting. In preparation for the special exhibition in Florence, the Berlin paintings received conservation and restoration treatments. The primary focus here was on stabilising the fragile paint layer under the microscope. For their presentation in the special exhibition, all of the predella components will also be installed in a new display case.
Aims and outcomes: Analysis of the Berlin predella and comparative evaluation using the corresponding technical findings pertaining to the accompanying panels; special presentation of the three Berlin panels in the Palazzo Strozzi
Exhibition period: September 2025 to January 2026 („Fra Angelico“, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Museo di San Marco, Florence)
Project coordinator: Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Project participants: Sina Krol, Ute Stehr, painting conservators, and Christoph Schmidt, technical photographer, Gemäldegalerie
Duration: 2025