In 1986, Mariagiulia Burresi connected them to a Martyred Saint Pope, formerly in the Foresti collection in Milan, and earlier attributed to Cecco di Pietro by Bernard Berenson, who had associated it to two Saints, from a private collection in Florence. Following Federico Zeri’s suggestion, the Saints in the Florentine collection had already been made known in 1961 by Enzo Carli, who had recognised their stringent stylistic affinities with Judas Thaddeus, Saint Bona, and Saint John the Baptist, and with Saint Michael the Archangel, Blessed Gherardesca, and the Apostle Simon in the Museo Nazionale di San Maetto in Pisa. Later, Burresi confirmed that these bases originated from Cecco di Pietro’s most ambitious commission, the polyptych for the Olivetan church of Saint Jerome in Agnano, largely preserved in Palazzo Blu in Pisa.

Saint Anthony the Abbot, positioned at the centre of our triptych, perfectly integrates with the intense physiognomies of the other figures. The central band of his halo, decorated with punched floral patterns on a granulated surface, mirrors those found on the halos of the saints, the Announcing Angel, and the Annunciate Virgin in the upper section of the polyptych in Palazzo Blu. This detail is also shared by one of the Apostles in the private Florentine collection and the Martyred Pope previously in the Foresti collection. Similar to Saint Anthony the Abbot, these two figures are also decisively turned towards the left, suggesting their placement to the right pillar of the Olivetan polyptych.

Undoubtedly, the Saint Bishop and the Saint Pope on the sides of our triptych were part of this grand structure, albeit they differ significantly in size from Saint Anthony the Abbot and the other saints. Their height closely matches that of the figures on the Pisan polygonal bases – certainly from Agnano – suggesting they were originally designed to rhythmically accentuate the compartments of the predella in the Olivetan polyptych, which also presents an analogous vertical format.

The Agnano altarpiece is widely acknowledged as Cecco di Pietro’s most challenging work, commissioned for the Olivetan church established by the Archbishop of Pisa, Giovanni Scarlatti, in 1360. Linda Pisani’s research has uncovered a considerable endowment for the Abbey of Agnano’s main altar by Bartolomeo di Betto del Testa in 1374, providing a crucial clue for the chronology of the polyptych, for a long time placed in the later activity of the master’s career. In the intricate articulation of its pillars and predella, the Agnano altarpiece played a crucial role.