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This panel of the Prophet Abraham comes from the frame of a monumental polyptych, or multi-paneled altarpiece, by Niccolò da Foligno, one of the foremost painters in the Central Italian regions of Umbria and the Marches in the mid- to late 1400s. All of the panels were originally installed as pinnacles (crowning elements) above the altarpiece's larger central panels. In depicting Old Testament prophets - figures who relayed God's messages and foretold the eventual arrival of Christ - they acted as precursors to subject represented in the main portion of the altarpiece, likely an episode from the life of Christ or the Virgin Mary. The main panels from the altarpiece to which the pinnacles belonged remains lost or unidentified.
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