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This bust is explicitly memorial and commemorative. It was a grateful memorial to Onofrio di Pietro's long service to the city of San Gimignano in his capacity as overseer of the works to remodel the church of the Collegiata and to build and decorate a chapel there to the local saint Fina dei Ciardi. Onofrio's memorial was installed in a niche in the sacristy of the Collegiata. The project was part of a campaign for Fina's canonization.
The bust was commissioned from Benedetto four years after Onofrio's death in 1489. Benedetto knew Onofrio, having worked on major sculptural projects in the Collegiata. Onofrio can be identified among the bystanders at the funeral of Santa Fina in the fresco done by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Chapel of St Fina.
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