Ugolino di Nerio was one of the most important painters in Siena and Florence in the early 14th century. He received prestigious commissions for churches and this small work was likely part of a large altarpiece he produced, now dismantled. It would have been one in a series of panels that formed its painted base, called a predella. The kneeling Carmelite friar (identifiable by his white cloak), the woman and the young boy depicted here might be the donors who commissioned the altarpiece.
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