In 1504, four years after Fra Bartolomeo had taken his vows, the prior of the Convent of San Marco, where he lived, suggested him to return to painting, which he had not done since taking the Dominican habit.

Iconographically the artist refers to the analogous work of Perugino, from which derives the pose of the saint, his white habit and contemplative attitude.

More complex, however, is the left half of the painting, where appears the Virgin with Child Jesus, while a group of angels seems to be pushing her forward.

[1] In the background there is a bright landscape with a city, while on the right, on a cliff, is visible the scene of St Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata, to underline the communion between the different forms of monastic religiosity, the Benedictines, the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

A small tablet at the bottom in the center of the composition with the Crucifixion is leaning against a book, a devotional motif taken from the example of Beato Angelico in the San Marco Altarpiece.