San Pier Maggiore, Florence

[2] The Florentine government almost entirely removed this church in 1784 and replaced it with a marketplace,[2] although three arches of the portico have been preserved into the twenty-first century.

[3] The church of San Pier Maggiore played a role in a ritual that was performed every time a new bishop of Florence was appointed.

[6] Next, the bishop entered the church and attended a banquet provided by the nuns of San Pier Maggiore.

[10][8] The abbess of San Pier Maggiore – who, as Miller notes, usually belonged to one of the most socially prominent families in Florence[11] – had considerable freedom to direct the flow of this ceremony from its inception until the late fifteenth century, when her powers were limited by subsequent bishops.

[17] Other artworks in the church included likely Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin (also in the National Gallery),[18] as well as Francesco Granacci's Assumption of the Virgin (now in the Ringling Museum)[19] and The Visitation by Maso da San Friano (now owned by the Fitzwilliam Museum, though currently loaned to Trinity Hall, Cambridge).