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In 1454 Piero agreed to paint a polyptych for the Augustinians of Borgo San Sepolcro; the painting was to be finished within eight years and was intended for their monastery. As usual, the work was not completed until much later. The polyptych later dismembered and the panels were scattered. It was only in the twentieth century that scholars succeeded in reconstructing this work. Among the parts of the polyptych that have unfortunately not survived there is also the central panel which represented the Virgin Enthroned.
St Michael was one of the four side panels depicting four saints (St Augustine and St Michael at the left side and St John the Evangelist and St Nicholas of Tolentino at the right).
Archangel Michael is portrayed as an ancient warrior, his athletic limbs made more elegant by his precious armour, by the graceful tunic and by his beautiful boots decorated by with tiny pearls. There is nothing violent nor dramatic in the killing of the dragon, who is shown as a snake, its decapitated body lying on the ground.
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