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Most compelling of Mr. Viola’s existential views, pairing the universal with the quotidian, is his horizontal five-panel, flat-screen video “Catherine’s Room,” based in concept on the five-part predella of the “St. Catherine of Siena” altarpiece by the 15th-century Sienese painter Andrea di Bartolo Cini.

Both the Louvre and Worcester works are so-called predella panels—small paintings that run along the base of an altarpiece—from the “Madonna di Piazza” in Pistoia, Italy.

Both paintings—“The Annunciation” and “A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo”—were part of a predella, or supporting platform, beneath an altarpiece titled “The Madonna di Piazza,” completed between 1475 and 1485.

Predella’s attorney, Daniel Rice, says it’s a way to force senior firefighters to retire so younger employees can advance.

The four were part of the altarpiece’s predella, a narrative sequence across the base of the altar.