Predella Panel Representing the Legend of St. Stephen: St. Stephen Preaching / St. Stephen before the High Priest and Elders of the Sanhedrin

Mariotto di Nardo was a painter active in Florence from the end of the 14th century until the early part of the 15th century. This work is the lower portion, called the predella, of a triptych altarpiece made for the Pieve di Santo Stefano in Pane in Rifredi, near Florence. Today the altarpiece has been broken up into various parts that are located in far-flung collections, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Paul Getty Museum and the Grand Rapids Art Gallery. This painting depicts the major saint of the early Christian church, St. Stephen. The saint's life is detailed in the New Testament Book of the Apostles and in the Golden Legend, a biography of saints written in the medieval period. St. Stephen was preaching at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the hostile crowd who had crucified Christ stoned him to death. This made St. Stephen the first Christian martyr. The three panels that constitute this predella are divided into six episodes, with each panel evenly divided into right and left sections by the introduction of either landscape or architectural elements.(3) Left section: Stephen, wearing blue vestments, is surrounded by women as he preaches. Two heretics argue with Stephen, but they cannot antagonize him.(3) Right section: Stephen stands in a building, surrounded by elders. The setting is the Jewish temple where Stephen argues with the high priest and the elders.(4) Left section: Stephen is stoned by the crowd and martyred.(4) Right section: Burial of St. Stephen.(5) Left section: Giuliana, wife of a senator of Constantinople then in Jerusalem, mistakes the saint's remains for those of her husband and has them put on a ship and carried to Constantinople. During the voyage the ship overcomes a storm sent by devils.(5) Right section: By the decree of Emperor Diogenes, the remains of Stephen are transferred from Constantinople to Rome. There they are buried in a joint grave with the remains of St. Lawrence. Thus, the traditional theme of a series of narratives related to the life of a saint were arranged in a horizontal array, just like a traditional Asian handscroll format painting. The vivid colors of tempera paint and the medieval spatial depictions are typical of the narrative style of the late medieval period in Italy. The richly imaginative scene of the ship at sea on panel (5), and the skill at showing nuanced figural characteristics add to the fascination of this predella.(Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 3)