Some art historians argue the work was commissioned by the Peri family due to its inclusion of saints linked to that family. It was the third painting Sarto produced for the
Augustinian Church of San Gallo in Florence – the others were the
San Gallo Annunciation and a
Noli me tangere. All the monastery's goods were moved to the church of San Jacopo tra Fossi for safety in 1529 just before the
Siege of Florence. That church was destroyed soon afterwards. The date painted on the step is a later addition, but Vasari's
Lives of the Artists records it was produced after the
Madonna of the Harpies (1517), and this dating is generally accepted by comparison with other works from that time. Bocchi's account of the painting states it was damaged in the 1557 flood, but no trace of such damage was found in a 1985 restoration. The work is included in a 17th-century inventory of the Galleria Palatina, spending some time at the
Uffizi (1697–1716) before returning decisively to the Galleria Palatina in 1829, where it was hung in the Sala di Saturno. ==References==