Annunciation with Saints Michael the Archangel and Godenzo

The abbey this was painted for stands high in the Apennines north-east of Florence, at San Godenzo, and it had one moment of real history behind it. In June 1302 a group of Florentines who had just been driven out of the city met there to make a pact with the Ubaldini, the lords of that stretch of mountain. Dante was among them. Roughly two centuries later the monks commissioned this Annunciation, and the saint standing to one side is Godenzo himself, the hermit the abbey was named for, who is barely known anywhere else. Michael the Archangel stands opposite him in armour. A Medici cardinal, Carlo, later took the picture for the family and left the monks a copy to put on the altar. The panel it was painted on was cut away in a later restoration and the paint transferred to canvas, which is why the surface is so fragile.