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The large, four-tiered altarpiece was created for the high altar of the choir of the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. Although only the façade of the church remains today, it was one of the oldest and most important religious institutions in Florence when this altarpiece was made. The picture formed the backdrop to one of the ceremonies relating to the ordination of each bishop of Florence until the late sixteenth century.
The altarpiece was most probably commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Albizzi family and many of its saints relate to their family or their trade as wool merchants. The central images showed the coronation of the Virgin by Christ surrounded by adoring saints – a highly popular image in Florence.
Niccolò di Pietro Gerini was paid for the overall design of the extensive altarpiece in 1370, while Jacopo di Cione was apparently responsible for the execution of the narrative painting: scenes from the Life of St Peter in the predella, the Coronation of the Virgin with Adoring Saints in the main register, scenes from the Life of Christ, from the Nativity to Pentecost, in the second register and the Trinity venerated by Angels in the pinnacle panels.
The picture shows the reconstruction of the dismembered San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece as suggested by Richard Offner and refined by Jill Dunkerton on the basis of technical examinations of the panels in the National Gallery, London.
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