A predella (Italian: 'altar step' or 'kneeling bench') is the horizontal strip of smaller painted panels that runs beneath the main image of an altarpiece, typically narrating episodes related to the main scene or the life of the altarpiece's patron saint. Although physically subordinate in scale, predella panels were often painted with extraordinary refinement because they were viewed at close range — at kneeling level. Fra Angelico's predella panels at San Marco in Florence and Uccello's predella scenes are small masterpieces of narrative painting. Giovanni di Paolo's predella for the Siena Cathedral, now dispersed between multiple museums, includes scenes of disturbing visionary power in miniature. The predella allowed painters to demonstrate different narrative skills from the monumental main panel: intimacy, movement, storytelling density.