Gaetano Ciccorini, Gubbio, Italy (according to an inscription on the reverse);
With the sculptor/painter Dies;
Acquired from the above in Rome in 1888 by Cavaliere Ludovic de Spiridon, Rome;
Spiridon sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller & Co, 19 June 1928, lot 17, as attributed to Gentile da Fabriano;
English private collection;
With Raffaello Amati, London, from whom acquired by the present owner in early 2000.

R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague 1927, vol. VIII, pp. 13-14, reproduced p. 14, figure 8, as Gentile da Fabriano;
R. van Marle, "Quattro dipinti marchigiani del principio del Quattrocento", in Rassegna Marchigiana, vol. IV, 1925-26, p. 225, as Gentile da Fabriano;
B. Molajoli, Gentile da Fabriano, Fabriano 1927, p. 113, cat. no. 6, as attribution rejected;
M. Boskovits,"Osservazioni sulla pittura tardo-gotica nelle Marche", in Rapporti artistici fra le Marche e l'Umbria, Atti del Convegno Fabriano-Gubbio 1974, Perugia 1977, p. 46, as the Master of San Verecondo;
A. Rossi, I Salimbeni, Milan 1977, p. 209, note 48, as by the Master of San Verecondo;  
K. Christiansen, Gentile da Fabriano, London 1982, p. 133, cat. no. XLVII, reproduced plate 106, as Marchigian, first half of the fifteenth century, whereabouts unknown;
A. De Marchi, Gentile Da Fabriano, Milan 1992, p. 134, note 77, as by the Master of San Verecondo;
M. Minardi in V. Sgarbi (ed), Lorenzo e Jacopo Salimbeni di Sanseverino e la civiltà tardogotica, Milan 1999, p. 173, as the Master of San Verecondo.

Panel is comprised of a single piece of wood which is uncradled, and has a very slight vertical bow. Scattered retouches are visible under UV in the figure's right cheek, forehead, neck and throughout her drapery. Most of the retouches in the drapery are localized and do not repair large areas of losses, but rather small individualized areas of paint. To the naked eye these appear to have been applied well and are not disturbing. The edges of the left side of her face have sunken over time and may be reconstructed by later restoration. The gilding throughout the composition is probably later, and not original to the composition.
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Considered by van Marle (see Literature) to be a youthful work by Gentile da Fabriano, an attribution no longer accepted by scholars, the present panel is more likely to have been painted by the Master of San Verecondo, an as-yet anonymous satellite of the great Gothic artists working in the Marches such as the Salimbeni and Gentile. Both Rossi and Minardi (see Literature) associate the work with a Saint Stephen in the Vatican deposits (inv. no. 41638) which is also given to the Master of San Verecondo. The panels are very close in size, are marked by similar punchwork along the edge of the saints' cloaks and display a similar verdant lower background filled with flowers. Boskovits (see Literature), on the advice of Federico Zeri, suggests that they may have been the wings of a dismembered triptych.
 
The saint depicted has eluded secure identification. De Marchi (see Literature) was the first to propose Saint Thomas, identifiable by his traditional attribute, the belt. However, the figure's soft features, hair and dress lend weight to the idea that it may in fact be a female saint.