In 1454, Angelo di Giovanni di Simone d'Angelo commissioned a polyptych from Piero della Francesca for the High Altar of St Agostino in Borgo Sansepolchro. The polyptych was intended to fulfill the wishes of his late brother Simone and his widow Giovanna to procure spiritual benefits for the donor and his forbears.
The structural framework of the altarpiece had a history prior to Piero's storied work. The Franciscans had had the structure built in the early 1430s to support paintings by Antonio d'Anghari and Piero had worked with him to gesso the piece. The effort was abandoned after the Franciscans hired Sassetta to do the work instead.
In 1451 the Franciscans sold the framework to Angelo Giovanni di Simone. It was more than 40 years old when Piero began working on it as the mainstay of the Augustinian High Altar. The piece was completed in 1469 and served as the High Altar until it was disassembled in 1555 when the Augustinians moved. The 30 panels were dispersed, with eight currently housed in institutions in Europe and the US.
Previous attempts have been made to unite the surviving pieces. The most successful, prior to the Poldi Pozzoli effort, was the Frick exhibition which displayed all of the pieces with the exception of the Poldi holding. When the Frick announced its pending closure for renovation, Poldi Pozzoli reached out to that institution and other holders with hosting requests. Those requests were granted and the pieces were reunited in an exhibition at Poldi Pozzi that ran from March 20 to June 24, 2024.
