Each panel in this trail bears the hallmarks of a complex process of craftsmanship, often carried out by an artist and their workshop assistants and collaborators. The wooden panel – having been likely manufactured by a separate carpenter – needed to be prepared, smoothed and primed with layers of glue, or gesso, and material such as canvas or linen. Only then could the design be drawn out and incised onto the panel, and gilding – the application of metal leaf – and painting could begin.

Once applied, gold leaf would be burnished – or polished – perhaps with a tooth or hard stone, such as agate. Gold elements such as haloes, borders and other ornamental features could be decorated with incised lines, tooling and punching, creating textured surfaces to catch the light. Many of the panels in this trail were created before oil paint became the major painting medium in Europe. Instead, artists used egg tempera, a mixture of colour pigment and egg yolk. Finally, drapery and costume details could be embellished with lines of gilding which were stuck to an adhesive known as a 'mordant', to imitate gold embroidery.

The process of making a panel painting was carefully documented by the artist and writer Cennino Cennini (born about 1370; died about 1440) in his Book of Art, written probably in the late 1390s, which readers can still enjoy today.