An Augustinian Nun (Saint Monica)

On 4 October 1454 the Augustinians of Borgo Sansepolcro signed a contract with Piero della Francesca for the polyptych above their high altar. His last payment came on 14 November 1469, 15 years later, during the same stretch of his life as the fresco cycle at Arezzo. This small figure was never meant to be seen on her own. She stood in one of the piers at the edge of the frame, alongside the tall saints of the main tier, and she keeps the old gold ground those larger panels had given up. The altarpiece was probably taken apart in the 1550s, and the church was later rededicated to Saint Clare, so of perhaps 30 panels only eight are known today, scattered between Lisbon, London, Milan, Washington and New York. Her Augustinian habit is most of what identifies her. The name Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine, is a later guess.