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This panel was part of a predella consisting of five scenes from the life of the Virgin. The predella was commissioned in 1448 from Sano di Pietro for an existing altarpiece in the Capella dei Signore in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. It is assumed that this altarpiece is identical with that painted by Simone Martini around 1326, and now dispersed in various collections.
The predella consist of the following scenes:
Birth of the Virgin (University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor)
Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple (Pinacoteca Vatican, Rome)
Return of the Virgin (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)
Marriage of the Virgin (Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome)
Assumption of the Virgin (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)
In the lower part of the Assumption of the Virgin, St Thomas is depicted in a strongly reduced scale. He is kneeling before the open tomb to receive the miraculous girdle of the Mother of God.
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