Probably commissioned by the Arte della Lana, or Wool Merchants Guild, for the Vallombrosan Church of San Michele in Siena;
Henri Chalandon, La Grange Blanche, Parcieux, near Trévoux, by 1907;
Chalandon family, from whom acquired directly by the present owners probably in the mid 1950s. 

B. Berenson, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, New York and London 1909, p. 141 (as Bartolo di Fredi);
M. Meiss, "Notes on Three Linked Sienese Styles," in Art Bulletin, XLV, 1, March 1963, p. 48, note 12 (as by the so-called "Sienese Master of the Magdalen Legend," a follower of Luca di Tommè);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central Italian and North Italian Schools, vol. I, London and New York 1968, p. 30 (as Bartolo di Fredi);
C. De Benedictis, La pittura senese, 1330-1370, Florence 1979, p. 67, note 80;
S. D'Argenio in M. Gregori, ed., La Fondazione Roberto Longhi a Firenze, Milan 1980, p. 242, cited under no. 22;
G. Chelazzi Dini, in Il Gotico a Siena, exhibition catalogue, Siena 1982, p. 278, cited under no. 103;
C. Volpe, Early Italian Paintings and Works of Art, 1300-1480, exhibition catalogue (Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd), London 1983, p. 29;
S.A. Fehm, Jr., Luca di Tommè: A Sienese Fourteenth-Century Painter, Carbondale, Illinois 1986, pp. 26, 35, note 21 (as 'Workshop of Luca di Tommè');
G. Freuler, "L'Eredità di Pietro Lorenzetti verso il 1350: novità per Biagio di Goro, Niccolò di Ser Sozzo e Luca di Tommè," in Nuovi studi, 4, 1997, pp. 20, 23-26, 31, notes 41, 47-48, 56, reproduced figs. 30 (reconstruction of altarpiece), 31, 32, 34;
P. Palladino, in the exhibition catalogue Art and Devotion in Siena after 1350: Luca di Tommè and Niccolò di Buonaccorso, San Diego, C▨alifornia, Timken Museum of Art, 1997-1998, pp. 40/43, 46, reproduced p. 42, figs. 39-41.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This group of panels have not been touched apparently for some time. The beautiful calm tempera surface is largely unworn, although the gold ground has been rubbed in places showing streaks of the bole underneath. There are scattered old rough, darkened retouchings, often perhaps superfluous, but with some clearly over old flakes. Near the base there are groups of small circular indents, perhaps from some sort of past amateur fastening. The thick poplar panel has a certain amount of old worm damage but is still strong. An unpainted band at the lower edge presumably fitted into the structure of the altarpiece. The original sections of the frame remaining at the top are largely in beautiful condition apart from one broken piece at lower left. The gold in the upper arch is rubbed but the halo is fine. There is some rubbing at the base on the left leaving only the bole, and a knock at the lower right base edge. The golden orb is also a little thin, as is much of the silver leaf in the sword, although much remains intact if tarnished near the top. There is a retouched knock at the base of the neck but the fine tempera brushwork of the head is beautifully preserved, with seemingly superficial little scattered dark old retouchings. The gold that traditionally underlies the figures of angels can be seen through the minute sgrafito in the wings and the armour. The transparent warm reddish resinous colour of the armour has adhered slightly less well to the gold leaf than the white of the wings, but is largely well preserved nevertheless. There are one or two small dents in the pink sleeve, and the shield has a group of the little circular dents described above. The blue drapery also has these dents but is otherwise fine, with a wider retouching by the fingers. The two prophets are in exceptionally intact condition, apart from a little rubbing in the gold on the right and a vertical crack in the left prophet, which has been consolidated but not otherwise touched. Essentially the painting has survived in remarkably undamaged condition, with a strong, secure panel and fine tempera surface, having clearly had a peaceful early existence. Despite the messy present surface and simplistic old retouchings, there may have been scarcely any other intervention and certainly no radical intrusion, so that the tone and quality of the surface has been preserved intact. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This panel, togther with its two companions, would originally have formed part of the central register of the original polyptych. If this was intended, as Zeri and others have convincingly proposed, for the Vallombrosan church of San Michele in Siena, then this panel would have occupied a place of honour immediately to the left hand side of the register's central panel, which was in all probability the Madonna and Child. Dowel marks on both sides of this panel, and on the right hand side of that of Saint Giovanni Gualberto vindicate Freuler's reconstruction of the San Michele altarpiece (see introduction)  and show⛦ that the latter panel occupied the place to the left of Saint Michael at the end of the central register.

The archangel Michael was the guardian saint of the Hebrew nation, and was adopted by Christianity as a saint - a purely honorific title - and figurehead of the Church militant. According to the angelology of the Pseudo -Dionsysius the Areopagite there was much debate among the early Fathers of the Church as to his place in the celestial hierarchy; to Greek tradition he was the 'Archangel' or 'Archistrategos' , Prince of all Angels, to others (St. Bonaventure) the Prince of Seraphim, the first of the nine angelic orders, and to others still (St. Thomas Aquinas) he was Prince of the last and lowest choir, the angels. In the Roman Catholic church he held four principal offices. He was the Christian angel of death, carrying the souls of the deceased to heaven where they are weighed in his scales. He is the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament and is guardian of the church. In this role he was particularly revered by the military orders of knights in the Middle Ages. Lastly, he was the principal antagonist of Satan and the fallen angels. In Christian legend he visited the Emperor Constantine the Great at Constantinople, and appeared, sword in hand, over the mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome in answer to the prayers of Pope Gregory the Great against the plague. In honour of this the Pope called the mausoleum the Castel Sant'Angelo, the name by which it is still known today.

Luca di Tommè's depiction of the Archangel follows the traditional iconographic type of the handsome and eternally youthful angelic warrior, fully armed with sword and shield, though the last lacks the traditional inscription: 'Quis ut  Deus'.  His wings, which represent swiftness, distinguish him from other militant Christian saints such as Saint George. The sword is emblematic of his power and with it the orb represents justice, indicating his role as judge of souls. The magnificence of his armour - a technical tour de force on the part of Luca di Tommè - r🌠eflects both his enlightenment and his rank as P𒊎rince of Angels.